Star Wars: The Soldier
by voodoo-bullet
Summary: Caption Rex is a true soldier. He is tough, strong and smart. He's loyal to the republic, to the general and to his men. The army is all Rex knows and its where he belongs. But when the caption meets a little girl who doesn't seem to belong anywhere, he will have to change into something more then a soldier to help her. but is it possible for a clone to be anything else?
1. Chapter 1

Rex stands at the back of a gunship with General Skywalker, Ahsoka Tano and some troopers from the five-hundred and first. He grabs the bar above him to keep his balance as the ship flies over Locuna's forests. Rex doesn't know how long they've been flying exactly, but judging by the pain in his legs from standing, he'd say a couple hours.

They arrived on Locuna after the Chancellor received a call for help from Locuna's government. Apparently the Separatists have been harassing Locuna to join them for months, they finally launched an Invasion. Locuna is a planet that's rich with valuable resources and is placed next to a vital hyperspace lain. It's important the separatists don't take this planet, if they do the separatists would have a way to easily run supplies to anywhere in the outer rim.

The only armies close enough to intervene where Skywalker and his turret company and Kenobi with his 212 attack battalion. They both managed to break through the blockade and land near the city of stone (Locuna's capital). They then set up a base of operation. Now the general, Tano, Rex and a platoon from the five-o first are on their way to join Obi-Wan Kenobi's men on the front lines in four gunships and a LAAT/c carrying an AT-TE.

"Sir, theirs a transmission from general Kenobi" their co-pilot says over the ships speakers.

Rex looks over at the general. We're supposed to have radio silence, so why would Kenobi contact them. Rex new in his jut that something bad had happened. Skywalker's expression told rex that he was thinking the same thing. "Put it threw" Skywalker orders.

A life sized version of Kenobi appears before them in holographic form. He doesn't look happy. "There's been a change of plans, I need you and your men to go to the city of the forest, evacuate the citizens and bring them to the city of stone" Kenobi says, folding his arms.

"What happened" Skywalker asks. Everyone is caught off guard by Kenobi's orders. Their prepped for a battle, not an escort mission.

"Cities are being attacked by bomber droids. The city of the forest is the closest one to your position, and the most damaged."

"Can't you send fighters to shoot the droids down" Ahsoka asks.

Kenobi strokes his beard as he goes on "All the fighters were destroyed to get through the blockade. I sent you the city's coordinates, and I'm also sending a gunship with enough rations for the journey back. The other platoons from Turret Company are going to the other cities and my men can keep the enemy busy. Just worry about getting the people to safety. And Anakin, do be careful."

Skywalker smirks at that "Of course master, when am I ever not careful?"

"Oh the memories" Kenobi mutters, touching his forehead before the hologram shut off.

"Should I send the carrier back?" Tano asks her master shortly after.

"We might need the tank." The clone caption advises. The general considers it and nods in agreement.

"We'll be close to the front lines so bring it along won't hurt" Skywalker says. "rex-" he starts.

"Already on it" Rex replies, activating his comlink to tell his men about their new mission.

"I sense this isn't going to be easy" Skywalker says, after a long time of silence.

"I just hope it's a small city" Tano replies. Rex turns his comlink off when he's done. He watches the giant trees threw the small cracks in the blast doors. They fly past as the ship changes its course away from a battle field and towards a broken city.


	2. Chapter 2

The ship's speakers come on after a long time of silence where Rex found himself thinking of how they have to walk all the way back to the capital. "Sir, I think you should see this" the pilot says as he opens the blast doors. Some troopers weren't prepared for what they saw.

The city is coming up fast. It isn't that big, more like a town then a city but defiantly of the forest. It looks like the buildings grow out of the giant trees and turn into structures, as if the city was grown instead of built. Rex wishes he could have seen the city before droids bombed its streets, because now half of the city is destroyed. Smoke rises up into the sky in places that the fires haven't died down yet and the surrounding five clicks of forest is burnt down. The air smells like smoke that burns Rex's nostrils and is filled with the Locunians screams for help. As they get closer Rex can make out the distinct shapes of dead bodies littering the streets. The droids are long gone, they did their job. So much destruction. The forest city is useless to the separatists. Rex has seen bad things in his life as a result of the war, but this is one of the most meaningless acts of evil he's ever seen the separatists commit. The gunships circle the city, their pilots are too shocked to do anything.

"They didn't have a chance" a trooper mutters from behind. Rex clenches his fists without realizing it. They didn't have a chance.

The caption is the first one to recover with everyone else (even the Jedi) still tacking in the view. He activates his comlink. "Ship two" Rex says sternly.

"Sir" the pilot from ship two responds after a moment's hesitation.

"Land to the west of the city. We'll send the citizens to you, set up a communal kitchen and a first aid station. Carrier one, you awake?"

"Wide awake sir" the carrier one pilot responds, faster than the first.

"Good. Drop the tank with ship two then get back to general Kenobi's main forces. Everyone else fan out, land in the city and help the Locunians. I want the medics ready for when we touch down. Have the critically injured loaded onto the gunships. I'm I clear?" he waits and only gets a few Yes-sir's. "Shake it off troopers! This, is, life and death!" Rex yells. It tacks the shock out of his men.

"Yes sir!" they all respond.

"That's what I thought" the caption shuts his comlink off and looks back at the city as the gunships break off in different directions and begin landing sequences.

They land on the crumbling ground with a jolt and the medics get to work immediately. They find people right away, stumbling around confused, scared and speaking in a strange language that he doesn't understand.

Locunians are a sub-human species, they look a lot like humans, except for their cat-like eyes and slightly pointed nails. Most of them aren't hurt that badly. The medics take command and start deciding who will be loaded onto the ships or not. Skywalker and Tano begin to cut through walls to get the people trapped inside the buildings. In the kayos, Rex spots Kix trying to lift a wall that's fallen over. He runs over and hears crying coming from under the wall. Rex grabs the wall and try's lifting it with Kix but the wall won't move. It isn't made of wood like he originally thought. Tano sees them and comes to help.

"Stand back" the Padawan says as she closes her eyes and lifts her arms. The wall shakes a little. When Rex starts to think it won't work, the wall slowly starts to lift off the ground. As it comes up, Rex lays on his belly to look underneath. He can see the faint shadow of a Locunian. "Any, day" Tano grunts under the pressure of holding the wall.

Kix and Rex crawl through the debris under the fallen wall and hope it doesn't crush them. They both grab an arm and drag the screaming man out. Tano go's to help out elsewhere as Kix works on the old man. The locunian's legs are crushed from holding up the wall and he is losing blood fast. Rex stands over them and powerlessly watches as Kix works, he thinks the man is missing a foot but couldn't tell for shore. He also absently notes that locunian blood is a lot brighter human blood, it almost glows.

"Aeee! Gebnara goovak! Gebnara goovak!" the man yells in Locua, he starts to panic when he sees his legs. The man starts to thrash and more blood squirts out his gets. Rex has to hold him down so he will stay still. Kix is quickly rummaging through his bag and Rex is having trouble keeping the panicked man down.

"Kix?!" he says, trying to make him go faster.

"Ok ok, got it!" Kix says as he pulls out a needle and instantly injects it into the old man's neck. The man stops moving and calms down. Rex lets go then the locunian falls asleep and sits back. The locunian's blood stops squirting out. Theirs a moment where Rex and Kix just sit there and catch their breath, but it's a small moment that ends too fast for their breath to be completely captured. "Stretcher!" Kix yells as they get up, a clone runs over with a hover stretcher following him. Rex helps the clone lift the man onto it. "He's stable for now, wrap his legs up then Load him onto the ship, and keep an eye on him" Kix tells the clone.

"Right" the clone runs off towards the gunship with the stretcher in close pursuit.

Most of the day was like that, Finding people under the ruble then loading them onto the ships or sending them to the camp outside forest city. Rex finds Skywalker in front of the gunship when all of the locunians are ether on the gunship, or at the camp. The medics are starting to pack up their equipment and stations for going to the camp.

"Everyone in our area has been evacuated" Rex informs the general as he takes his helmet off.

"What about the other areas" Skywalker asks. Rex doesn't know about the other areas.

"I just cheeked, their all heading to the camp right now" Tano says as she walks towards them.

"How many injured?" the general asks his padawan.

"The ships are full, but there was enough room for all of them."

"Ok." Skywalker turns to Rex "order the ships to go ahead to the capital."

"Right" Rex says before activating his comlink.

Skywalker turns back to his padawan. His expression goes serious "What's the death count?" he asks. Rex freezes with a finger over the comlink's call button, waiting for her answer.

Ahsoka frowns and looks down at her feet "More than half, we don't have a number" she finally says.

"Blast" Rex mutters, he was expecting a high death count, but not more than half.

Skywalker breaks the long silence and orders everyone to the camp.

As Rex walks through the streets towards the camp, he can't help but think about all the damage the bomber droids did, the city is practically gone, but in the clone's mind, the damage turns into the large number of deaths the droids caused and from that the droids turn into the separatists. After, he found himself wondering how many more innocent people have to die in this war. Then the clone caption gets a headache.


	3. Chapter 3

The camp is a sad site, the survivors sit around on the ashy ground around the ship, whispering or crying. Some people were wandering the camp, looking for their loved ones, but Rex knows they won't be found. There is so much morning in the air.

A large number of locunians managed to save a cart or wagon with their belongings loaded into them, a few were even being pulled by animals. The troopers are handing out food and blankets. There is also a big crowd over at the healing center, all the medics are going there to help.

Fives spots them come into the camp and jogs over to them.

"Snips, go see if you can help people in the healing center" Tano nods and walks off.

"Sir" Fives salutes.

"What's our status" Rex asks.

"We count around three hundred alive, and I don't think any more are coming. General Kenobi's gunship with the rations and supplies arrived an hour ago, we loaded everything into the tank" he said pointing over his shoulder at the AT-TE.

"Good. Load up Obi-Wan's gunship with the old and sick, people who won't be able to keep up on the move, and send them ahead to the city" the general orders.

"Yes sir, and theirs someone demanding that he speak with you." Fives is finding it hard to keep a straight face now. "Apparently he's the 'all-powerful leader of this fine city that will only talk to the man in charge of all us inferior clones'" Skywalker took a breath, just hearing about the leader is starting to get on his nerves.

"Ok, where is he" he finally says.

Fives points towards the ship "you can't miss him, he's the one wearing the giant red head dress and looking at people like they crawled out of his toilet"

"Joy" Skywalker mumbles. Rex chuckles.

They make their way to the ship, weaving threw the crowd that gets thicker as they get closer. Rex scans the people as he walks. They are all together in tightly packed groups of varying sizes. They like to stay together, vary social people. But then Rex notices a little girl with white hair siting on a small rock just outside camp. She blankly watches the ruined city. Deep in thought. For some reason, she's alone, no one's going near her. As if she felt she is being watched, the little girl turns her head to the side and looks right at Rex. The captain is too shocked to do anything. The kid looks like she's seen bad things in the last few days, but doesn't cry like the other kids, she just stares blankly at him.

The girl suddenly looks away and fixes on something else, he follows her eye site to find a dozen Locunians clearing at her. They turn around and continue talking. Rex realizes other people are glaring at her as well. He doesn't know why, but they don't like her. He looks back to find the girl has disappeared. Rex stops in his tracks, confused about where she went. How did she do that?

"Rex?" the captain looks forward to find Skywalker watching him.

Rex recovers, "sorry, sir, it was nothing" he keeps walking but the general keeps watching him, unconvinced.

They spot the leader right away he stands in the middle of a group of higher class Locunians, including his guards and advisers, he has a giant red headdress decorated with what looks like scaly feathers and diamonds. He tilts his nose up like he smells something nasty at all times.

"You've got to be kidding me" Rex mutters. Skywalker catches it and smiles.

"My thoughts exactly" they walk up to the group their path is blocked by a guard's staff.

"I'm the Jedi" the general says as he waves his hand and the guard's staff moves out of their way. The leader shoves past the guards to stand tall in front of the Jedi, he sizes up the general and tries to look intimidating. Rex can't tack him seriously with the head dress.

"I am Doren Gefar, the great leader of this city. I demand to know why I haven't been allowed onto that ship" he says in a squeaky voice, pointing at the gun ship behind him where clones are helping the old and sick on board. "Why do the lower classes get to fly when I don't?" he's angry. Rex some of his men glaring at the leader, they probably had to deal with him before the general arrived.

Skywalker watches Gefar in disbelief "Those people won't be able to keep up with us on the journey to the city of stone and will slow us down. So they will be flown back. And it appears there isn't any space left for you to use. I'm sorry but that's how it works. You need to walk like everyone else" the general says as he folds his arms.

The leader got angrier and angrier as Skywalker talked, his face is red now and the people in his group are starting to back away from him. "Who do you think you are?! I order you to let me on that ship or I will have you executed when we get to the city of stone" people are watching them now.

Skywalker stays quiet for a moment. "I think I'm the Jedi that saved your people" he finally says in an even voice. The leader looks like he just got punched in the face. "This is a relief mission. No one gets special treatment. Everyone will get an equal share of rations and supplies. But I will respect you as the leader and I will recognize you as the voice of the people. If you want to use that voice you can address it to my second in command, captain Rex" He gestures to Rex and walks away before the leader could reply. Rex follows him. The captain doesn't like the idea of having to deal with the leader but he doesn't complain.

"I sense the leader is going to be difficult" the general says.

"I don't need powers to know that" Rex mumbles. Skywalker smirked at that.

"We should move out soon" Skywalker says, the captain looks up at the planet's star, they have about four hours until it goes down.

"We won't get far until we'll have to stop for the night" Rex points out.

"Yea but I don't want to be here if the droids come back. I'll let Obi-Wan know what's happening. Have the men packed up and ready to move" the general orders and walks away.

Rex wastes no time. He activates his comlink and starts to order his men to pack up. The healing station will have to be the last one to pack up. Their still getting a lot of people that are hurt, but everyone else is ready to go.

* * *

**hay look who figured out how to make the horizontal lines! anyhow, I feel like I should mention that the Locunians and Locunia are mine, everything else is obviously not mine. **

**and check out my pinterest!: ablack2428**

**ill be putting stuff on their that has to do with my story, not now, but soon, and I have cute animals, sooooo cute!**

**and review! review! review! I'm looking for criticism, so burn me! I can tack it (gets out bucket of water). I want to learn from my mistakes and write better. I've got dyslexia so its hard for me to write properly (love spell check). point out things that I missed or just say it sucks (im looking at you trolls). even if you don't normally review. just, write, something...please? :3**


	4. Chapter 4

They start moving an hour later with Skywalker leading the great herd of Locunians. They pull their wagons and carts full of things they don't need. Rex thinks they should have left some things behind but doesn't make them, is was probably hard for them to leave in the first place. The tank walks in the middle of the parade with most of the troopers around it. Rex stays in the shade of the tank because it is so hot. The leader is at the back of the giant group with his own little parade of guards and friends and pretending he is leading at the front.

They walk in silence for a long time, navigating throw a small windy road in the forest with the biggest trees Rex has ever seen. He notices that the further they got from the city the bigger the trees get and the more wildlife they see. The captain spots little white fury animals with blue strips going down their backs and big fluffy tails. They run and play through the trees. A particularly small one manages to accidently fall off its branch it was on and lands on another branch that was occupied by a big black lizard. The lizard lunges forward and tries to catch the white animal in its mouth. The fury animal is too fast for the lizard and dodges the strike. It runs over the lizard's back and climbs up the tree to safety. The little animal keeps playing like nothing happened. A few minutes after that Rex starts hearing a loud chirping sound coming from above. He looks up to see giant bird like creatures with golden feathers siting on the top branches and curiously staring back at them. When the city's location is only evident by the steady line far away smoke over the tree tops, Rex and the others start to hear deep growling and strange sounds that seemed like laughing coming from within the forest. They would hear it every hour, but never see anything. Everyone keeps moving though. Rex noticed the locunians were getting nerves, they knew what was out there.

Rex is keeping an eye on the forest in case something jumps out, when he spots the little girl from before. She walks alone and keeps to the side of the road. He almost didn't see her with the wagons in the way. But her hair makes her jump out in the end.

Rex also notices that the locunians purposely stay away from her. The kid keeps her head down and ignores the people glaring at her, even when she knows they're there. They talk in hushed voices so the girl can't hear them but Rex can tell she can. Rex still doesn't know why the people stay away from the kid. She couldn't be older than eight or nine. After thinking about it for a moment, he entertains the idea that it might be because she just looks different. The kid has long white hair tied in multiple loos braids when everyone else's hair is black and short. All the children wore fancy clothes that look expensive and clean. The girl only has a giant grey and blue t-shirt (on her it's a dress that go's her knees) and black shorts that are also too big for her. She is also without shoes and covered in mud. The kid has a lather bag slung over her shoulder that's perfect for her size, which is a lot less than the other people who had decided to bring as much as they possibly could. In Rex's book, that makes her smarter than the others. Maybe that was why she's getting death glares, because she doesn't need to worry about a giant waggon. The captain knows that isn't it, but it would be nice if it was.

"Sir" Rex turns to find Fives looking up at the tree tops. He follows the trooper's gaze and almost trips over his feet. Rex can see the head of a giant reptilian creature watching them threw the branches of the tallest trees. Its scaly neck is extremely long and its head is the size of their tank. The brown and green creature blends in with the trees perfectly dew to its colors and the plants growing on its scales.

Rex instantly goes into battle mode and draws his blasters, which he aims at the creature, so do the other troopers. It stairs at them with its big red lazy eyes. Rex notices two long tentacles attached to the back of its head. The creature uses the tentacles grab giant leafs off the nearby trees and puts them in its mouth.

"It's a herbivore" Echo says in awe. Rex takes a quick glance at the Locunians, the ones that spotted it seem unfazed by the creature, and some are even happy to see it.

"Stand down troopers, its harmless" Rex orders.

"A woman called it a voola" Tano mentions as she walks over to them. "Their peaceful, apparently."

"That would have been nice to know a few seconds ago, we almost blasted it" Rex tells the padawan as he puts away his blasters and glances at her. He remembers the kid and looks back to where she was. She disappeared again. The captain scans the crowd of Locunians but it's too thick to see anything. How does she do that?

They leave the voola behind and walk until the sun starts to go down. The recon squad comes back and tells the general that they found a big clearing half a click up the road. They make it there and find it's a giant field of uncut grass. Skywalker orders the party to rest for the night. Locunians instantly crowd into the clearing and flattens the grass in the whole area with their feet. They start park their wagons and carts then to make bonfires.

Shortly after Dex (the tank's driver) manages to navigate the tank into the middle of the field, Fives, Echo and Rex drag a big crate of rations out from the tank. When their done, Fives looks to the hungry crowd that has gathered in front of them. "Does anyone hear speak standard!" Fives asks the people. No one answers. "Come on. Standard! Can, anyone, speak, standard!" the people look at each other and talk in their language. Finally, an old woman steps threw the crowd and comes forward.

"I, speak, little, standard" she says in a beep ascent as she walks up.

"Good" Fives says. He points to the box "food." He pretends to eat something and the woman smiles and nods. Echo points to the surrounding people.

"Everyone, gets, two cans" the trooper pulls two cans of food out of the box and Fives holds up two fingers. The woman pauses for a moment then her smile gets bigger, she nods and folds up two fingers.

"Unaka, kem pem ake" she says before she turns around and starts talking to her people, they all come up and start handing out cans to the back of the crowd.

"that went well" Echo says sarcastically, smiling at Fives. Fives grunts.

They walk back to their bonfire at the side of the tank, Kix is already there. They sit down on the dirt and take their helmets off. Kix collects their cans, cracks them open and empties the contents into a pot that he rigged to hang over the fire.

"Mmm, ration soup, my favourite" Fives says sarcastically. Kix punches his shoulder.

"I'm just trying to make it a little better" Kix says defensively, stirring the stew with a stick.

"Um, I think you need flavour to make it a little better, Kix" Echo says, grinning.

Rex isn't listening to the troopers. He sits on the cool night ground and enjoys the feeling of not walking under the hot sun. The people have fires all around them, heating up their rations. The kids are running around playing tag, laughing, screaming and annoying the grownups. Some people are even playing music with the bass mando, the chordokeylo and chidinakalu. Rex quickly learns that the Locunions are vary social, they're always in groups and talking in that language that sounds like they speak one thousand words a minute. And the way the Locunians move from one group to another. Theirs always new gossip that has to be spread. Rex figured nothing stayed a secret for long in their world. It looks like they take social status very seriously.

The captain realizes that the leader's guards have begun to watch the ration station, making shore no one tries to steel more. The crowd at the station has died down, every few minutes, people would go up to get their rations.

Rex takes a can and fills it with the chunky drown slop that they call rations. It's not completely brown, theirs bits of orange and some specks of yellow in there, but mostly brown. The sad part was that he has grown accustomed to the slop, all the men have. He even looks forward to eating it in a way, because it means he isn't dead yet. But he can always remember how bad it is by watching people who's never tried the slop before eat it. He watches the Locunians eat. They always make a face on the first try, slow down then realize that they are really hungry and eat it all under a minuet. Every time. Every planet. Rex always finds it funny.

He is about to start eating when something caches his attention. The little girl with white hair is walking up to the ration station. Some people start to stare at her as she walks by. They aren't happy, but she keeps her head high and her sight fixed ahead. The clones notice Rex and turn in the direction he is looking. The guards intercept the kid before she can get near the crate and don't let her pass.

"Beca nocan." One of the guards says, looking down at the kid and shooing at her. The girl glares up at him. People are starting to crowd around them. Rex has a bad feeling about this. He slowly reaches for his helmet, not tacking eyes of the situation. The musicians around them stop playing but Rex can still hear music from fare away.

"Geenja forin topa devi" the kid replies, as she tries to get around them. The guard that talked grabs her arm and stops her, she tries to pull away. Rex putts his helmet on. But he doesn't know how his presence will make the people react. He could set them off.

"I'll find the general" Echo says as he slips away.

The girl yanks her arm to try and get free "viano sepina!" she spits and Rex Guesses that she just insulted the guard because his face goes red and a vain on his forehead pops up.

"Beca nocan devig! Forest ghost!" the guard yells as he shoves her away. Rex is up and sprinting towards the crowd, with Fives and Kix right behind him. The girl stumbles and falls to the grown. Some of the locunians take the opportunity to crowd around her and start kicking her. Rex picks up the speed and starts shoving people out of the way to get past. The crowd is too thick, he can't get to the kid. The Locunians are out of control, its kayos. The people looked so peaceful before. But now. They're yelling at the girl and at each other, trying to push others out of the way to get a good kick in themselves. When Rex is close enough he reaches out and manages to grab the thick arm of a fat Locunian that is about to kick the kid and yanks him back. He stumbles back and glares at Rex.

"How dare you!" the Locunian yells over the crowd. He throws a wild punch at Rex but he moves to the side and swiftly smashes his elbow into the Locunians face. Bright blood sprays out his nose an he stumbles back and Rex grabs the locunians shoulders. The captain knees the fat Locunian hard in the chest. Rex uses the fat Locunian to make a path from him to the girl by shoving his unconscious body forward. He darts over the man and gets to the girl.

She is on the ground in a tight ball, shielding her face from the constant bombardment of kicking from all sides. Rex manages to fend off some of the people attacking her, blocking their assaults and pushing them back into the crowd. They aren't slowing down, Rex thinks that he even might have caused them to try harder. He has to do something and he knows it.

Rex quickly knees a man trying to get pass him in the face, throws him back, pulls his left blaster out of the hoister, lifts it over his head, and fires all in one second. Its sound echoes throughout the field. The crowd freezes now that blasters are involved. The blue blaster bolt races up like a flare and disappears. He stays there for a moment, everyone was watching him. Rex looks down at the girl and could make out one giant red eye watching him threw a small opening between her arms. They keep their eye contact for half a second until he looks away. Her body is shaking, she needs help. Rex scans the crowd for Kix, he and Fives are half way to the middle but the people won't let them pass. He lowers his blaster and points it at the people in their way and his face go's dark.

"Back away." the captain demands, he doesn't even try to keep the anger out of his voice. The people don't move, they stand there like a pack of wolves waiting for his guard to go down, but that isn't going to happen. Rex draws his second blaster and points it at the crowd as well "Back!" he yells. Rex can't think of a time he was madder than this moment right here, he's seeing red and his trigger fingers are getting that itch that he would love to scratch. She's just a kid, you don't hurt kids! That is one of Rex's biggest personal rules.

The people see the look in his eyes and slowly start to move away. Fives and Kix finally manage to squeeze through the thinning crowd, Kix runs past Rex and makes it to the girl. Rex looks down at her. Her body is shaking and covered in bruises. She stays in her tight ball despite Kix's efforts in untangling her and check for damage. Rex starts to think that they're too late.

The people are quiet, the only sounds where the crackling of the fires that gave them light and Kix's voice as he tries to talk to the kid. He watches as Kix pulls a small med blanket out of his bag and gets Fives to help him move the girl onto it. Rex would have helped but he doesn't want to take his eyes off the Locunians. More troopers are finally showing up to control the people. Witch made a lot of them leave the area.

"What's going on" Rex spots the general pushing his way through the small crowd with Tano and Echo following behind. Skywalker stops in his tracks when he sees the kid. Tano sees her and goes past Skywalker to kneel down at the girl's side. Rex faces the general and putts his blasters away.

"Sir" he says, not bothering to salute "the people attacked the girl when she tried to get rations." Upon hearing this, Skywalker scans the crowd witch has gotten a lot smaller, all the Locunians that where actually kicking the girl are gone.

"Why?" the general asks in disgust. Rex shacks his head.

"I don't know"

"it's because that pathetic ghost at your feet was steeling our food." everyone except Kix and the girl turns to see the leader walking towards them, the people clear a path for him and his guards so he can easily get through. The leader walks with his nose up and an evil smirk plastered across his face. Rex hates people like that. His arrival causes the crowd to grow once more, Rex doesn't like that and he starts to casually keep a hand on his left blaster.

"The rations are for everybody. Your people had no right" Rex starts, he is trying to keep the anger out of his voice, and failing miserably. The leader ignores Rex like he didn't exist and only acknowledges Skywalker. His smirk gets wider. Rex's fists clench and he has visions of wiping the smirk of her face.

"The rations are not meant for, that. They are for my people. The people from the city of the forest. That girl is not one of us, and there for, she was steeling. On this planet, the penalty for steeling is up to the ones that suffer from the crime." The leader says in his squeaky voice that makes his ascent sound ridicules, he folds his arms and triumphantly stares at Skywalker with his head held high.

"That's crazy, you don't-" Fives starts but the general stops him from advancing and probably hitting the leader.

"Now if you would hand the little ghost to my guards, they will, take care of her." the leader waves his guards on and they walk towards the kid.

"Forget it" Rex says as he gets in the way of the guards. The captain stands tall inches away from the leading guard.

"This is the law on our planet, clone." The leader smears. "Stand aside, or else!" Rex doesn't move and the guards don't know what to do about it. He knew they aren't real solders, just for show. Rex glares into the closest one's eyes and the guard gets scared.

"You're not getting past me" Rex says, more to the leader then to the guards. Tano, Fives and Echo join the captain. The leaders face turns red, Rex figures he's probably used to getting what he wants. The tensions are getting with the Locunians. The crowed has grown in number. Standing up to the leader made them restless and angry. Locunians shout at Rex in Locua, he ignores then and keeps staring down the guard. Skywalker steps between the captain and the guards before anything really happens.

"Ok, stop." Skywalker says as if he were talking to kids. He glances at Rex before turning to the leader. "Even with that law, your people still didn't have the right to hurt the kid." He points to the crate of food that started it all. "Those rations are property of the republic. Not your people." The leader sees where this is going and frowns, Rex smirks inside his helmet. "So your people have no say on how the food is shared or how we deal with the people that steal food. You will call your people off or I will make you personally responsible for what happened" the general folds his arms and waits for a response. It looks like the leader is about to explode in anger, his face is red and he's biting his lower lip. All the confidence he had is gone now.

"vary well" is all he says before turning and walking away. Skywalker clears his throat and the leader stops in his tracks.

"Oh, and by the way, if we are going to us the laws of this planet, if I catch you tacking more than your share of rations then by law I will strip away your food privileges to just enough for you to live off and make you carry supplies for the whole journey. If this happens again I will hold you responsible and let captain Rex right here deal with you how he sees fit." Rex smiles at that.

"Very generous of you, sir" the leader glares at the clone. Skywalker keeps going.

"And it wouldn't hurt to apologise to the kid on behalf of your people." The locunians that understood what he said are outraged by the Jedi's words. The leader scowls at Skywalker. He reluctantly looks down at the girl like she was garbage.

"Great leaders do not apologise to ghosts" he says before turning and quickly walking away. The crowd evaporates with him.

* * *

Echo go's to get a hover-stretcher from the tank and Tano leaves to try and find the girl's family. Rex doesn't think that will end well but he guesses that it's worth a try. Skywalker kneels down next to the girl and across from Kix. Rex stands over them and watches as the people shoot death glares his way.

"She was lucky. I expected a lot worse" Kix mumbles "no broken bones or internal bleeding, so far." The medic applies some pressure to the girl's ribcage, she yelps and pops out of her protective ball. He wasn't prepared for the sudden movement and falls back onto his butt. The girl crawls a few feet away from him before the pain gets to her and she has to stop. The four of them watch as the girl starts to hug her ribcage. She's in pain. "The kid has some heavily cracked ribs." Kix mumbles to Skywalker as he gets up and slowly reaches for his med bag. The girl realizes they were watching her and starts to glare at them. Rex could have sworn he saw a bit of hesitation flash in her eyes, but he doesn't think anyone else noticed it. She's scared but she's hiding it. "If she moves they might snap and puncher her lungs or her heart, and that's really, really not good." She watches them incomprehensibly but also suspiciously. Her red eyes narrow on Kix.

"I'm back. What happened?" Echo runs up behind Rex with the stretcher. Fives waved a hand at him to be quiet. Kix rummages through his med-pack and pulls out a pneumatic syringe with a vile of bacta loaded into the back. The girl ether recognizes what Kix is holding of read the situation because she starts to try and stand up.

"We need to give her this, and keep her still" the medic carefully explains. Fives, Skywalker and Rex all nod and start to approach the girl slowly, with Kix following behind them. The girl glares at Kix, daring him to come near her.

"Ecdem, toom" the girl spits as she starts to limp back.

"Um Kix, I think she just swore at you" Echo says from behind.

"Shut up Echo" Fives retorts.

"On three we grab her" Skywalker says, holding up his hands to her. The clones all nod. "Ok, One".

"I have a bad feeling about this" Kix mumbles, as if he could read Rex's thoughts. The medic keeps the syringe hidden behind his back but that isn't fooling the kid.

"Two" the girl is slowly going into a defensive crouch like a cornered animal. Rex can tell she's about to run.

"Encta, novada" she growls and shows her teeth. Rex notes for future relevance that she has small sharp fangs visible in the corners of her mouth. He wonders if all Locunians have fangs.

"Three!" they all blindly lung forward. But the girl was faster. Rex catches a flash of white run between Fives's legs and out behind him. Fives and Echo both stumble forward and crash into each other. Rex manages to regain his balance to stay up and Skywalker never fell for the girl's trick.

Rex looks back to see the general in pursuit of the injured girl. The captain can't believe what he is seeing. The girl is fast, really fast. Even with the injuries, Skywalker is actually having trouble chasing her down. Rex runs after them but has no hope of actually catching up. The general manages to momentarily catch the girl's arm but quickly yanks his hand back after she bits it. The girl has the advantage of being small, she weaves through the crowd easily and slides under carts to avoid the general's attempts to grab her again. Skywalker would have already lost her if she wasn't injured. They outrun Rex in minutes. He pushes past annoyed people to try and catch up but he knows it is hopeless. He doesn't see them over the crowd of people anymore. The clone would catch glimpses of Skywalker running every few minutes but he would disappear just as fast. The kids running into the more crowded areas which had more carts and wagons scattered all over the place. The kid's defiantly smart, she can easily find a hiding spot here.

Rex finally spots Skywalker breathing heavily and pacing in a tight cercal, he looks really confused. The general is in a small opening in the middle of a giant crowd of locunians walking in all directions. Rex walks up to him. "I lost her" Skywalker says, more to himself then to Rex.

"Blast!" The captain says as he scans the thick crowd. If she is in it, they wouldn't know. Fives, Echo and Kix catch up to them.

"Where is she?" Fives asks, looking around.

"Lost her" Rex tells him. "How long do we have until her rids give?" he asks Kix.

Kix shakes his head "can't tell, soon, probably"

"That's just great" Rex mumbles. He turns to Fives and Echo "tell the men what happened, get them searching for the kid. We need to find her, now. Contact Kix on the comlink if anyone spots her. The kid is scared. We need to be careful on how we approach"

"Right away sir" they both salute and run off.

"What happened?" Tano jogs up to the three of them, reads their faces and frowns. "Where's the kid?" she asks carefully.

"She ran when I tried to give her a shot" Kix explains. The padawan folds her arms and looks over at her master.

"And she got away?" she asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Let's just worry about finding her, ok." The general replies defensively, Tano rolls her eyes and moves on.

"Did you find her family?" Rex asks. The padawan frowns and looks at the ground. Rex can tell she didn't.

"I asked all the locunians that could speak basic, but they would stop talking to me when I mentioned the girl with white hair. I don't think she has a family hear." Rex felt a pang of sadness deep down. He doesn't let it show. Skywalker breaks the silences that has been growing bigger and bigger.

"Fan out and find her, search the more populated areas first and look under the carts, she's probably under one" the general orders before he walks away to the search for the kid.

* * *

Rex walks down a path between two long rows of carts at the edge of camp, for what he thinks is the second time tonight. Most of the Locunians have gone to sleep in the hours since the girl disappeared, which leaves the cart areas quiet and deserted. He figured she would be around here but didn't know for sour. They've been looking for the kid for two hours now, every area has been searched mutable times. Not even the Jedi have been able to track her down, which, in a strange way impressed him because there are trained spies that haven't been able to avoid a Jedi.

Kix is getting nerves, he keeps asking for progress reports over the comlink and reminding everyone not to spook the kid if they find her. The longer she's missing the worse Kix will get on the comlink so Rex sent his men to spread out and cover more grown. The men are getting tired and the ones that didn't actually see the kid where starting to complain behind the captain's back, but they keep looking so he doesn't care. He walks in silence down the narrow path, trying to look into the darkness that helps the girl hide. Rex's stomach growls, reminding him of the can of brown slop that he didn't get the chance to eat. Rex ignores it like a solder, a hungry solder but still. Finding the girl is more important than his stomach. The growling doesn't let up as Rex walks and he starts to shamefully fantasise about the can of slop back at their fire. The path begins to narrow as the carts and wagons start to close in, forcing Rex to squeeze through the wagons that are too close together. Rex finally gets to a part where the path widens up and his comlink comes on.

"I don't think she's in the camp anymore." The general regretfully says. Rex frowns. "I'm calling the search off. You should all get some sleep, I'll take the first watch and keep my eyes open for her" the com turns off.

Rex stands there for a minute, looking at the path ahead then looking back the way he came. He's not shore what to do. His stomach feels like it was going to stage an uprising but he doesn't want to just give up on the kid and go back. What are the odds that he could find her? He realizes that it isn't really a question for him and quickly decides to look around some more. Rex doesn't want to find the kid dead in the morning just because he's tired.

He continues walking down the path. As Rex walks his stomach gets louder and more aggressive. The captain is silently telling it to shut up when he realises that the sound is off. He hears growling, but doesn't feel it. Rex stops and listens. The growling isn't as deep as his own. It sounds like a kid's. Rex scans the area and doesn't see anyone near him. He tries to listen as he slowly walks towards the sound. Rex hears a faint sniffle coming from under a big waggon carrying baskets and crates. Rex realizes that it's a kid crying. The captain walks toward the waggon as silently as possible. He grabs a wheel and bends down to look under the wagon.

The moon's light shows him the outline of the little girl siting in the dirt with her back to him. She hugs her ribcage like before and tries to hold back her sobs. The first thing Rex thought was that she is alive and that that's good, the second thing is that she is in a lot of pain and that is really bad. He has to get Kix. Rex is about to sneak off to contact the medic when his hand slips off the wet wheel he was folding for balance. It catches him of guard and he falls forward a little. Rex silently curses himself, quickly regains his balance and looks back at the girl.

Apparently he made enough noise to startle the kid because she is fully turned around, on her knees and watching him with a crazy expression on her face. Her red eyes watch him carefully. Rex doesn't know what to do. If she runs he won't be able to catch her. But she isn't running. The kid just stairs at him. He sees the realization in her eyes as she remembers that he stopped the people from killing her. But she's still ready to sprint, Rex catches her eyes flickering to an escape route.

The captain slowly starts to kneel down more so he doesn't look like a big threat to her and shows her his hands so she knows he doesn't have anything. She relaxes a little and sits back on her butt. They watch each other for a minute, not really trusting the other to stay where they are. Rex needs her trust if he's going to help her. They stay like that and the longer their there the more relaxed she gets.

To Rex's horror, his comlink switches on. "Sir? Where are you? The general ordered-" Kix starts. Rex doesn't really hear the message because he moves to quickly shut the com off. But it's too late, the sudden sound and movement brock the deadlock and sets the kid off. She makes a break for it and starts crawling to the other side of the waggon.

"No! Wait!" Rex reaches in to try and grab her but before he can reach her the kid suddenly yelps and falls over. The kid grabs her stomach and tries to get back to her knees. When Rex tries to reach for her again the kid gets spooked and crawls further under the wagon, not taking her glaring eyes off him. In the back of his mind he noticed that her eyes glowed a little just then.

Her injuries are getting worse, he has to do something and scaring her wasn't helping. Rex suddenly realizes something that he missed. She's just a kid. The captain calms down and moves back to his original spot. The kid slowly calms down as well and sits back down, further in then before but it's a start. Rex hears her stomach rumbling again and gets an idea. He slowly lifts his helmet off his head and sets it down in front of them, showing her his face for the first time. She looks at him with confused eyes, as if she didn't thing he had a face.

Rex gives her his best friendly smile (which isn't that good) and rolls his helmet over to her. The kid gingerly picks the helmet up with her small hands and examines the strange object. She gently traces a finger over the blue markings over his visor. The girl remembers Rex and suspiciously looks back at him. "Ok, hears the hard part. I will be, right back." The captain points in the direction of his fire. "And you, need to stay hear" he points at her then to the grown. "Stay, hear." He drops his hand when he sees her blank face. "You have known idea what I'm saying do you" she tilts her head to the side. "Ok, stay hear" Rex gets up and walks away.

* * *

He jogs threw the camp, navigating past the carts as fast as he can and not caring if he wakes people up. Rex finally makes it to the fire to find a snoring Echo, a silent Fives and a nerves Kix. They look pretty shocked to see him.

"Where were you?" Fives asks as he sits up.

"Not now trooper. I need to fury" Rex grabs his can of slop and realizes it's gone cold. He dumps the slop back into the pot and pours new warm slop in.

"Where's your helmet?" Kix asks.

"I gave it to the kid to try and make her stay put." Rex says. Kix and Fives both jump up.

"What? You found her? Where is she?" Kix demands. Rex looks at the medic when he's ready to go.

"I'm heading back to her now. But she'll probably run if everyone comes. I'll bring her back for the shot." Rex tells them as he jogs off, leaving a confused Fives and a worried Kix behind.

* * *

Rex manages to convince himself that the kid will be gone when he gets there, and that he will never see his helmet again, as he jogs back threw the camp. The captain gets to the deserted path and silently prays that the kid stayed where she was. He makes it to the wagon and is scared to look under it. Please be there, pleas be there. Rex knells down and looks.

The space under the wagon is empty. Rex freezes. The kid is gone, and she took his helmet with her. "Blast!" Rex stands up and starts to nervously pace, which it something he only does when he's really stressed. She's gone. Rex is convinced she won't survive the night, but he doesn't know what to do about it. He's out of ideas. Rex stops pacing and looks off in the direction of their fire. The captain thinks about getting his men to help him look around the area when he feels something hit the back of his heel.

He looks down to find a rock rolling away from him. Rex blankly stares at the rock like he's never sees one before. Another rock shoots out from under a nearby wagon and hits his foot. Rex kneels and looks under that wagon. The captain comes face to face with the girl again. It takes a moment to sink in. The kid just moved under another wagon. Smart, if he tried to trick her she would have been gone.

The clone breathes a sigh of relief and walks over to the wagon. The kid sits cross legged on the ground and holds his helmet in her arms. She isn't as far in as she was before, Rex figures that means progress. The trooper goes down and sits cross legged like her so they are more at eye level.

"I bet you're hungry." He says. The kid watches Rex as he pulls the can of slop out and holds it out to her. After eyeing it hungrily, the kid watches Rex suspiciously and doesn't tack it. Rex frowns "come on kid. I didn't do anything to it." He waves the can in front of her. The kid stubbornly folds her arms and looks away. But her stomach betrays her and starts to growl. Rex smirks. "Ok then, if you don't want it, I'll have it." He sits back and shovels a big spoonful of slop unto his mouth. The clone did it to show her the slop is safe but he'd be lying if he said it wasn't because he's hungry to. Rex closes his eyes and smiles. "Mmmmm" he catches the kid watching him (and the can) but she quickly looks away and starts tapping on his helmet.

Once again, Rex holds the can out for the girl to take. The kid glares at him and he thinks she won't take it. But after a few seconds of hesitation and without taking her eyes of Rex, she gingerly crawls forward and snatches the can out of his hand. She retreats back under the wagon and sits down. The kid smells the slop and makes a face. Rex chuckles at how cute that was.

It isn't long until she's stuffing her face. Rex doesn't know when the last time she ate something was but it seems to have been a while. She quickly finishes it off and lets out a lowed burp. It surprises her and she slaps a hand over her mouth. Rex smirks at the girls shock and is glade that she's finally eaten something. The kid's happier now that she's eaten and mimics his crocked smile. Rex chuckles. "There you go, I knew you could smile." The girl starts to giggle but winces and stops, she starts to hug her ribcage again. Rex frowns. Now was the harder part, getting her back to take the shot.

Rex gets on his knees and extends his hand to the kid. She eyes him for a few seconds, the captain can tell she has trust issues. After some for hesitation, and after silently telling him not to try anything with only her eyes, she reaches out and grabs his hand. Rex carefully helps the injured girl out from under the wagon and to her feet.

The girl almost falls when she puts weight on her left foot. Rex catches her before she hits the ground and sets her down on top the wagon. Her eyes are squeezed shut and she's whispering something in Locua. Rex recognizes that face from being in the war, she's trying to fight back the pain. Her ankle is red, swollen, and bleeding in some places. She obviously can't walk.

Rex picks up his helmet that she dropped, brushes the dirt off and puts it on so he doesn't have to carry it. The captain then carefully picks the kid up and secures her in his arms. She's in to much pain to protest and still has her eyes squeezed shut.

Rex starts toward the fire for the second time that night. The captain tries keep the girl as still as possible without sacrificing his pace as he speed walks through the camp. Rex knows he looks funny to people watching him walk buy but he doesn't care right now. He can tell the journey wasn't helping her. "Just hold on, kid" Rex tells her as he picks up the pace.

The girl goes back into her protective ball in his arms and starts humming a strange malady that he doesn't recognize. The humming actually calms her down a little but Rex is surprised and thinks she's starting to hallucinate. He panics and quickens the pace again.

The clone captain gets to the fire a few long minutes later. Fives, Kix and a woken up Echo all stand up as he comes closer. Rex gently puts the kid down on the stretcher Kix set up for her ahead of time.

The kid stops humming at the sudden change and opens her eyes to see Kix approaching with the pneumatic syringe again. She freaks out and would have crawled off the stretcher if Rex hadn't of stopped Kix. "She doesn't have time" Kix tells him.

"Ok, but she's scared. Just hold on a moment" the clone captain says. After some hesitation, Kix takes a step back and folds his arms. Him, Echo and Fives all watch as Rex walks over to the girl and takes his helmet off again. The girl watches him (and the syringe in Kix's hand) carefully. She sits up then swings her legs so they dangle over the side and continues to hug her ribcage. Rex places his helmet on the stretcher and kneels down so they are eye level.

"He" the captain points to Kix behind him. "Will save your life" he points to her ribcage. She looks at him, not knowing what he's saying, but he could tell she gets what he meant. The girl looks past Rex and at Kix, the medic waves at her. She girl looks back to Rex and he nods to reassure her.

Rex waves Kix over. The closer Kix gets the more nervous the girl gets. Rex Try's to calm her down as Kix stands beside him and gets the shot ready. It's not long until she's on the verge of crying.

"The serum won't work if she's this upset" Kix warns Rex. The captain doesn't know how to calm her down, he doesn't have any experience with kids. Rex starts to panic and does the first thing that comes to mind. He starts humming.

The humming gets the girl's attention. Rex hums the verses to a lullaby droids on Kamino used to sing to little clone cadets because it was one of the only songs he knows. He feels kind of silly and doesn't think he's humming it correctly. But the girl actually calms down and listens to the malady so Rex doesn't care if it's silly. As long as it works. The others quickly recognize the song and join in.

When Kix is ready to give the shot he moves so he can get to the girl's arm. She shies away from him so Rex puts his hand on her shoulder to reassure her. The kid grabs Rex's hand so she has something to squeeze and closes her eyes.

The captain has a flashback from when he was a little clone cadet. He hated getting shots and even hid from the med droids on shot day. They had to spend the day hunting him (and a few other cadets that shared his fear) down so they could give the shots. Rex was always the hardest one to find and he always put up the biggest fight, using his training to avoid the instructors that where put in charge of finding him.

Rex understands the girls fear. He keeps humming as his hand gets crushed by the kid, she has a stronger grip then anticipated and when Kix gives her the shot she starts squeezing even harder. It only lasts a second and her grip fades. "Done" Kix triumphantly announces. Everyone breathes a sigh of relief. The girl opens her eyes and looks at her arm.

Rex relaxes now and stands up strait again. "That wasn't so bad was it, kid" Rex tells her as he smirks and ruffles up her hair. The kid giggles and swats his hand away from her hair, she looks up at him and gives him the same smirk she copied off him.

"All we have to do is keep her still and she'll make a full recovery, I put some relaxant in with the bacta so she should be out in a few minutes" Kix explains. As if on cue, the girl starts to yawn. She lays down on the stretcher. Rex goes through his bag and pulls out a small green blanket. He picks up his helmet and throws the blanket over the sleepy kid. the captain starts walking back to his spot next to the fire.

"Wren"

Rex stops and turns back around. The girl is looking at him threw sleepy eyes. "What was that?" he asks, then remembers that she can't understand him and feels silly.

The kid starts to rub her eyes, "inca monaf, Wren." She yawns and points to herself "Wren."

Rex suddenly realizes what she means. "Your name is Wren." She smiles at her name. Rex smirks and points at himself. "I'm Caption Rex of the 501st legion." Wren smiles, she's almost out.

"Inco monaf, I'm-Caption-rex" she repeats. Rex is caught off guard and Fives starts to laugh.

"Well, um, it's just caption Rex, there's no 'I'm'" he tries to correct her. But Wren is already asleep and can't hear him. Fives stops laughing as Rex sits down next to the fire.

"Looks like someone found a new friend" Fives observes. The captain glares at him.

"Watch it trooper" Rex says.

"Yes sir, I'm-captain-rex" Fives salutes with a wicked grin across his face. Echo snorts with laughter. The captain evilly smiles at him.

"You think names are funny do you? All right then, I'll tell her that your name is Mister Sparkles" Rex points two fingers at Fives. "And your name is Misses rancor." he then points at Echo "Does that sound funny to you?" Fives stops smiling and Echo stifles his laughter. "That's what I thought" Rex smirks triumphantly.

"I let the general know that the kid is fine" Kix says as he turns his com off and sits down across from Rex. The captain isn't listening. He grabs Kix's discarded can and starts filling it with the remainder of the slop. Now that Wren is safe, all he can think of is how hungry he is and how tired he is.

Rex looks over at the sleeping girl. She clutches a bundled up part of the blanket like a stuffed animal. Wren has a big smile on her face and is starting to snore a little. Rex doesn't think Kix needed to add the relaxant. The captain starts to wonder how long it's been since she's had a good deep sleep, without having to worry about the Locunians hatred of her. Judging by the look on her face, he'd say it's been a very long time.

* * *

**well that was all the writing I did over the summer,, about 14 pages, *sigh* I had planes of doing more but procrastination got to me. ill start writing again tomorrow but right now I'm going to award myself for proofreading this and get myself an ice cream. mmmmmm ice creammmm.**

**and wile you wait for my next chapter, shall me play a game? dom dom dommmm!**

**ok, those little white animals in the trees and the voola are both creatures that are off of something unrelated to star wars. can you guess what they are? and where their from? ill give you hints. the voola is off a video game that stats with an R and it isn't actually called a voola. the white ****squirrel**** like creatures are from an anime and it's name starts with a P. review and post your answers, or just review. if no one gets it I will tell you on the next chapter. if you get it ill start following you because that's impressive.**

**just so you know, this all tacks place a little after rookies, just so you know. anf if theirs anything you don't understand then I ether made it up or you can find it on Wookieepedia, its the Star Wars Wiki. they have everything about star wars, like_,_ _everything. _its crazy, theirs soooo much more things in star wars then I thought.**

**any who, that's where** **I ****did all my research for the story so its a good place to learn about things in my story**

**and if you see any mistakes review and tell me. or just review, i'm not picky. **

**and check out me pins : ** ablack2428


	5. Chapter 5

"I'm-captain-rex?" a sleeping Rex absently hears someone say, but he's in too deep a sleep to wake up from it. "I'm-captain-rex? Dongara finoya." someone starts to shack the trooper's shoulder. Rex only wakes up enough to groan at whoever is shaking him. "I'm-captain-rex?" the shaking gets harder.

"Shhhhhhh, get back to sleep trooper" the captain absently mumbles. He yawns "That's an order." And with that, he instantly falls back to sleep, until someone starts pocking his face. That wakes Rex up a little more and he starts blindly swatting someone's hand away. He hears giggling and the culprit continues to pock. "Shhhhh, I'll have you court marshalled" Rex mumbles and rolls over to escape the pocking. The captain is more awake now and can hear little footsteps walking around him to get on his other side. The footsteps stop and block out the sun from Rex's eyes, he guesses its morning now because of it.

"I'm-captain-rex, imfoo gingy demetse gonv" Rex is pretty shore whose trying to wake him up by now, so when she forces his left eyelid open he isn't shocked to see a little white haired Locunian curiously staring into it. Wren smiles when Rex opens his second eye all by himself and let's go of the first. He figures theirs no chance of going back to sleep now, so the clone groans and finally sits up.

The captain was right, it is early in the morning. The sun is just coming up through the trees and he can hear the chirping of Locuna's wildlife starting to wake up. Fives, Echo and Kix are siting around their newly started fire, warming up from the cold night and eating before we start moving again. Most of the other troopers and some Locunians are also awake, boing the same things at their fires.

Wren backs up when Rex stands. He stretches his arms and yawns. The kid looks up at him, mimics his stretch with her tiny arms and gives a small yawn of her own. The captain smirks and the kid copies that as well.

The beating Wren took last night is only evident by light cuts on her arms, some bruising on her feet and a particularly big bruise on her jaw that has developed many different shades of green, but it's still a big improvement from her original condition last night. The bacta did its work and Rex is still amazed by the transformation. The kid doesn't even look tired.

Wren turns and runs ahead to the fire. Rex notices that the kid is favoring her right foot as she runs, but not enough to really concern him. Rex picks up his helmet and the bag he was using as a willow before he rolled off it at some point and follows the girl. Walks to the fire he notices the Jedi and Doren Gefar having a conversation at the leader's fire. By the looks of it, Gefar is yelling at the Jedi.

"What's happening?" the captain asks his men as he sits on the last free rock near the hot fire. Wren cheerfully plops down on the ground across from Rex and warms her bare feet with the flames. She wiggles her toes in satisfaction. Fives follows Rex's gaze and gets what he's asking.

"Skywalker is trying to get the names of everyone involved in Wren's beating" the trooper explains bitterly. Wren curiously looks up when she hears her name. "But I don't think the leader will give the names up even if he knows them."

"Blast" the captain says.

No one talks. Rex looks down and notices Wren carefully watching the leader with that same blank yet thoughtful expression he caught her watching the city with. That look tells the captain that there is so much more to this then her just being different and being hated for it. Wren knows why the people hate her. But the thing Rex doesn't understand is that she doesn't look scared, mad or hateful because of what was done to her. The only emotion Rex can read from the kid is, pity? Wren quickly looks away when she notices Rex watching and starts eating rations from a can that Kix handed her.

Echo offers Rex a can of slop and he absently accepts it. Now the captain can't help but think that there's more to what happened last night. When he first thought about why the Locunians hate the wren, he wrote it off as it being because she looks different. But that doesn't make sense anymore. There has to be a bigger reason for why they tried to kill her.

The captain looks back at Gefar's camp to find the Jedi have left. Rex makes a mental note to question Skywalker on what happened, then remembers he's holding a can of slop and starts to wolf it down.

The hot fire feels really good after Rex spent the cold night without the blanket that he gave to Wren. He's starting to get the feeling back in his legs when Hotshot (a rooky trooper that was just assigned to the five-0 first) approaches them.

"Sir" the shiny stands strait and salutes. "The general wants everyone ready to move in an hour." He looks down at the kid all the men are probably talking about. "And he requested a status report on the girl." Kix tacks care of that part.

"Tell the general that she'll make a full recovery but has to take it easy on the moves for a few days. I can't use another vile of bacta on her so the rest of the damage has to heal naturally" Kix informs Hotshot. Rex guesses that makes sense, the bacta Kix has right now is heavy duty and meant for grown troopers on the battlefield, not for little girls.

"Right." Hotshot salutes again and leaves to find the general.

"Guess that's it for the nice relaxing part of the day" Fives mumbles as he quickly finishes his rations. The rest do the same and they all begin to pack up their small camp. Wren sees the suden change and starts to eat faster, which is very fast. She stands up when she's done and runs up to Rex. He and the other troopers stops what they're doing and looks down at the girl. Wren looks up at Rex and gives him the smirk that she has mastered by now.

"Ingo kepta, I'm-captain-rex." Wren gives him a short curtsy and runs off into the crowed before the captain can react.

"Hay! Wren! Where are you-" to late, she's gone, again. Rex considers going after the kid but decides that he probably won't even find her. He sighs and picks his helmet up. But Rex still worries about the girl being alone with the Locunians and what they could do.

"The Locunians won't try anything, she'll be fine" Kix says as he watches the spot where Wren disappeared into the crowed, but he doesn't sound completely shore.

* * *

**im so sorry that this took longer then the others. chapters one to four where all the writing I did this summer (about 14 pages), so when I ran out I freaked and got back to my word doc. anyway I just wrote this in a hurry and their was supposed to be more in it but ill ad them into the next chapter, im got good with speed writing. chapters might take me longer to make now. im not out of ideas, I have soooooo muck stuff planed in my plot, its crazy. so please be patient and stick with the story, I guarantee you wont regret it. **

**now for the game and the two people that played it: the white creatures where parichisus! and it is from Pokémon. I don't really like Pokémon anymore but when I was little the parichisu was and still is my favorite. unfortunately im already following one on the two people that got it right and the other was a guest, soooo yea.**

**the voola is from one of my favorite videogame franchises ratchet and clank, I think the actual game was "ratchet and clank: tools of destruction". it is a Sargassian Troglosaur, or simply a Troglosaur, look them up or play the game, their really cool.**

**im not going to ask for reviews anymore, I've decided that im going to try and earn them instead of asking. hehe, sooo if I earned a review...review**

**I feel like im missing something...nope, I just cant remember**


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry for the wait! To make it up to you I made a super chapter! :)**

* * *

They start on the road an hour after Wren ran off, when everything is finally packed and ready to move. Theirs still no sign of the red eyed girl and Rex gets a little nerves, but he wont admit that and you wouldn't be able to tell just by looking at him.

The captain walks with most of the other troopers in the middle of the giant party, right next to the tank. He keeps his eyes open for the kid and scans the moving crowds every few minuets, trying to pick out a flash of white hair in the sea of raven black, the main hair color for Locunians.

The morning coolness starts to disappear as Locuna's star gets higher in the sky, but the thin layer of fog that's been on the ground all morning doesn't leave. As it gets warmer, more creatures come out for the day; the captain especially notices the little white creatures from yesterday, playing in the trees again. He can't tell if these are completely new animals or if the ones from yesterday are following them.

No one talks; the only sounds are the combined shuffling of about three hundred feet in the road, the faint squeaks of one hundred wagon wheels, the forest's own mysterious sounds and the loud mechanical movements of the walker. Even with all that, the lack of conversation still leaves an eerie silence in the air. The silence is why everyone around near by suddenly jumps when Fives's foot comes into hard contact with a big rock and yells blast. He makes a loud groaning noise after as he tries to suppress his pain.

Echo laughs now that the silence has been broken "it helps to watch where you're going," he suggests. Fives hops on one foot as he shakes off the impact, grumbling something among the lines of "shut up Echo"

The angry trooper looks ahead down the road when he finally recovers. "How long will this escort take?" he asks in an annoyed voice as he places his beaten foot back onto the ground. Now that Rex thinks about it, he doesn't know how long the trek will take, he never actually asked the general. Echo goes deep in thought for a moment.

"About, six days if we're fast, five if we're lucky, or seven if we're not" Echo finally tells him. "But Locunian days are longer," he adds as if it were an afterthought.

Fives lets out an exasperated sigh, "Don't know about you troopers, but I would rather be blasting clankers right now" the clone stats, resting his blaster rifle on a shoulder.

Rex wasn't really paying attention. He watches general Skywalker and Tano leading the party far up at the front. The captain speeds up his pace to catch up with the Jedi. He gets some glares from the Locunians as his passes by, but nothing as bad as last night. They look away as soon as Rex spots them and act like nothing happened. The clone isn't too concerned with them trying anything right now but he still doesn't trust them.

"Sir" Rex greets when he finally gets to the front. Skywalker and Tano both turn and watch him approach.

"Morning Rex" Tano says as the captain matches their pace and walks beside them. The trooper removes his helmet and nods to the padawan. He decides to get right to the point.

"Did you get the names?" Rex asks the general. The clone doesn't think they did, but he has to ask anyway. Rex watches Skywalker's reaction. He frowns at the question.

"Gefar claims he doesn't have any information about the attack" the general keeps his eyes fixed on a point down the road and Tano frowns. "The leader also claims that if he knew who the attackers where, he couldn't tell. Apparently they have a law about it" Skywalker is trying to keep the tension from his voice and Rex realizes that his own fists are clenched into tight balls, he relieves the muscles and opens them up again.

"That's not right." Rex says. Skywalker nods in agreement.

"But theirs nothing I can do right now. The leader is protected, by his position, and by his people" Tano points out as if she where reading the their thoughts and wanted to remind them of the hole situation. The three fall silent for a wile, Rex takes the time to watch the forest and let their conversation sink in.

He finally turns and looks at the Locunians. They talk, laugh and help each other with the wagons and carts that get stuck between rocks and in holes, as if last night never happened. The people seem so innocent and happy. But Rex isn't fooled; he can only see threw them to the evil that came out last night.

"Their so, different" Rex finally says, putting his thoughts into words, he looks back to the Jedi, "From last night to, this." Tano gets what he's saying and nods.

"Locunians are actually supposed to be really peaceful, that's why Locunia remains neutral in the war," she tells the captain. Rex looks back to the people again. He can't imagine the Locunians being peaceful, not anymore. Skywalker reads the confusion on the captain's face.

"Before we touched down, representative Amidala contacted our cruiser and told me about a rumour going around the Senate." Rex looks at the general; he seems to be deep in thought as he talks. "Supposedly theirs some kind of separatist corruption in Locuna's higher classes." Rex's mind immediately travels to the leader and his greedy face that makes Rex think he could be best friends with Nute Gunray. "I think the people have been corrupted, that's why they where so aggressive" Skywalker finishes. Rex thinks about it some more as they walk in silence once again.

If the rumour is true then that means it's not only the Locunians against Wren, but the separatists might have something to do with this as well. Rex realizes that he could be reading the situation wrong, but he makes a mental note to keep an eye on the leader anyway. If the captain finds a reason to take him down, he will.

Locuna's trees get even bigger during the long hours that they walk; their branches start to hang over the road from high above. Leafs the size of Wren filter out the hot sun and leaves little specs of dancing light all over. Rex welcomes the cool shade.

Skywalker calls for a small break at a point where the road is the widest. Rex and his men could have kept going but the Locunian's complaints forced the general's hand, they aren't used to this much walking.

Rex makes it back to the tank where his men are talking. Echo is sitting on the ground, Fives and Kix are leaning against one of the tank's legs and Dex is under the tank, doing something with the walker that only he understands.

They stop talking when Rex approaches and wait to hear what happened. The captain tells them what the leader said. He leaves out the part about the rumour because of all the Locunians within earshot, Rex can't tell who among them knows basic and who doesn't. He doesn't want to tip the leader off.

When Rex is done Fives shakes his head in discuss. "There's a law against giving up the names of people who beat kids? That's not right" he looks strait at Rex and shrugs off the tank. "And your shore theirs nothing the general can do?" Rex asked the same question in his head, he already put a lot of thought into this.

"Not right now, but when we get to the city the general is going to-" Rex gets cut off when his helmet is suddenly lifted right off his head. After a second of extreme confusion, the captain hears giggling and looks up to see Wren hanging onto the tank's leg that's almost directly over him.

The kid looks down at him with a big, mischievous smile as she holds his helmet in one hand. The leather bag is once again sling over her shoulder; she probably retrieved it from its hiding place before leaving the camp ground.

Rex and his men watch in shock as Wren effortlessly climbs up to the leg's joint and sits on the little ledge it makes that's just her size. The captain doesn't know how she got up their without him knowing.

"I found her, sir" Echo jokes as he gets to his feet. Rex can't hear the trooper threw the slight ringing in his ears. He doesn't like the thought of Wren playing on the giant weaponized vehicle.

"Wren" Rex calls up to her. She looks down at him and tilts her head to the side. The captain sternly points to the ground. "Get down" he demands "and hand over my helmet" he points to his helmet. They're close enough to the front lines that an attack could happen at any moment and he needs his helm if that happens.

Wren's smile grows. Even with the language barrier, Rex is positive she knows what he meant. But Wren taunts him by playing with his helmet, tossing it into the air, then elegantly and effortlessly catching it with one hand.

"Wren" the captain warns. He can hear a few of his men trying not to laugh behind his back, including Dex, who got out from under the tank to see what's happening.

"I'm-captain-rex, sonba fona" The girl says as she places his helm on her lap. She starts to hum and playfully swing her legs that hang off the side. She has no attention of coming down anytime soon.

Rex inhales "no, it's just, captain Rex" he clearly explains. "Now, get, down." Wren blankly watches him and raises an eyebrow.

"Ok, fine, if you won't come down, ill come up." Rex finally says after loosing a short stare down. He puts his hands on the tank's leg and finds a foot hold. Before the captain can start, Wren realizes what he's doing and jumps right off.

"Whoa!" a trooper exclaims as the girl lands like a cat only two yards away from the group of troopers. Rex is shocked, she isn't even hurt.

Wren stands up strait, still clutching his helmet. After getting over the shock, Rex holds his hand out "hand it over" he says. Wren looks at him then back to the helmet, an idea plainly growing in her eyes.

The girl curiously lifts the helmet up and places it over her small head. She looks around. The helm is too big for her small head and keeps sliding down; she has to hold it so the visor lines up with her eyes.

When Wren gets the hang of holding it right, She looks back at Rex "gile sofma figare doma I'm-captain-rex," she says in a muffled voice. Some of Rex's men start to snigger a little.

"Captain rex, you look different today. Is that a dress?" Fives asks like it's a legitimate and completely series question. Rex shoots him a glare before putting his attanchion back onto Wren and his helmet. He begins to calmly walk up to her.

"Give it up," he says. Wren jumps back when he reaches for the helm and playfully giggles.

Rex frowns. He feels kind of silly without his helmet when all his men are wearing theirs. Once again, the captain starts to approach her, but not as calmly as before. Wren also starts to back up, pushing the visor up every few seconds.

"Wren, give me my helmet, now" Rex demands in his stern voice, usually reserved for ordering troopers under his command. He is confidant with this tone and filly expects her to listen, even with the language barrier. Troopers always listen to him; he is the captain after all. But this kid, (Rex realizes), this kid isn't a trooper; she ignores the captain and keeps backing away from him, almost like a game of tag.

"im-captain-reeeeex jibie jibie bo bo," Wren taunts, Rex is the only trooper that doesn't find that funny.

He shakes his head. "No, it's just, Rex," the trooper explains, not bothering with the captain part anymore. "Reeeex" he sounds it out for the girl. She stares at him for a long time.

"Rex," Wren finally copies as she tilts her head to the side, grabbing the helm when it slides down to realign it with her eyes. "Rex," she repeats.

Rex smiles to the fact that she's finally getting it, his men go completely quiet. The captain nods "that's right, just, Rex" he says triumphantly.

"Rex Rex Rex," she says in a playful tone. Rex nods at her. "Rex Rex Rex, im-captain-rex" she finally says. Rex's smile drops and he frantically shakes his head no.

"No no, that's not-" the captain starts to explain again but is cut off by the girl's giggling. If she wasn't wearing his helmet, Rex would have been able to see an evil smile grow across her face, but the captain senses something anyway and gives her a suspicious look.

"Im-captain-rex Im-captain-rex Im-captain-rex" Wren starts to happily chant. Rex stops walking as all his men burst out laughing. She stops as well and smiles at the look on his face. The captain is positive she's saying it wrong just to see his reaction.

"Stop encouraging her!" Rex yells back to the laughing clones and tacks his eyes off the helmet thief for a moment. They all go dead quiet under the weight of his steely glare and stay that way.

Rex turns back to Wren and gives her the same glare that shut his men up. Nothing happens; the girl is unaffected by his look and keeps chanting "im-captain-rex" like a broken holo-vid.

The captain drops the glare and looks to the sky between the holes in the leaves. He lets out a heavy sigh and rubs the back of his bald head. Alpha's ARC training never could have prepared him for dealing with kids. They are nothing like his soldiers, the men specially trained to follow his commands to the letter.

This takes the highly respected captain out of his preferred elements of leadership and war and puts him into this new element that makes no sense and leaves him extremely confused on what to do. This is the element of an innocent and carefree kid who does whatever she wants without thinking of consequences.

Rex has been out of his comfort zone plenty of times before, not like this but he figures its close enough to have the same learning curves. The captain decides to handle this like how he handled those times, something the general himself taught him to do when everything else fails. He's going to stray from the path of clone guidelines, and just, improvise.

The captain slowly takes his eyes off the patchy sky and looks down at a silent Wren, a knowing expression on his face, as if asking her if she wants to continue. Her body language changes from playful and jumpy to 'why are you looking at me like that?' in only a second. A small smirk crawls onto Rex's face.

"Ok, that's it," Rex says casually, fully knowing that Wren cant understand him, she watches the captain with growing caution "You had your fun." And without warning, the captain makes a mad dash for the kid, hoping to catch her off guard. She lets out a high pitched scream that only a little girl can make and starts running down the road.

"Blast! Wren!" Rex goes after her and his beloved helmet he once had to retrieve from the belly of a dead rancor that tried to eat him, (it took him a vary long time to get ride of the stains, even longer to get rid of the smell).

Her bare feet make soft but fast patting noises as she slams them down on the packed dirt to propel herself forward. His helm violently jiggles on her head as she flies off, forcing her to hold it in place and sacrificing some speed in the posses. Her half braided hair sticks out the bottom and flaps arrowed behind her like a white blur.

Rex quickly realizes that this is what Wren wanted all along. She only runs fast enough to stay just out of his reach so she can keep the chase alive, but the kid still runs like theirs nothing in the world that can catch her.

The whole time she's ether screaming when Rex gets to close, roaring with laughter or yelling 'im-captain-rex' like a war cry at the top of her lungs for all to hear. It's the happiest Rex has ever seen her; he realizes that's not really competing with a lot of good times but still. The captain can't really explain it, but it feels kind good to see her happy. That's never really happened to Rex before, But he won't admit that to anyone and he still needs to get the helm back.

Rex can hear laughing as they run past groups of troopers. "Wren!" he calls, "this isn't funny!" it wasn't for him anyway.

The girl effortlessly weaves threw the crowds just like she did last night when the general went after her, ducking threw the smallest gaps that only open for a split second before closing back up. Rex has to annoyingly push threw those same crowds, usually getting yelled at in Locua.

Rex just finishes pushing past the last Locunian in his way when he notices something, his eyes go wide. "Wren! Wait!" the trooper yells as he doubles his speed. The girl isn't listening.

"im-captain-rex! im-captain-rex! im-captain-rex!" Wren is running blind with the oversized helm. She makes it to the front of the giant party and manages to crash right into the back of Skywalker's leg. She falls onto her butt with a soft thud. Rex stops running a few feet away and stares in shock.

Skywalker and Tano both turn around and find Wren sitting in the ground, wearing Rex's helmet. The girl moans something in Locua and rubs her side.

"Hello little one," the general says, looking down at her. Wren freezes as she recognizes the voice. She slowly looks up at whom the voice belongs to and readjusts his helmet so she can actually see.

The kid instantly recognizes Skywalker and jumps up, she runs back to a hesitant Rex and hides behind his legs. The captain looks down at her in surprise. One moment she's running away from him and the next she's using him as a shield.

Skywalker and Tano both look up at Rex. He feels the weight of their questioning stares on his exposed face. He understands how strange this must look.

"This is the kid from last night," he explains, then pauses awkwardly "um, her name's Wren." Wren peeks around his leg when she heads her name and carefully watches Skywalker. He feels really awkward standing in front of the two Jedi with Wren using him as a protective wall. "Um, Wren snatched my helmet and ran off," he explains "She was playing and didn't see what was in front of her. Sorry sir," Rex hesitantly apologises "it won't happen again."

The general walks up to them and knells down so he's at eye level with Wren. He smiles at her. Theirs a long pause when finally; Wren points a small finger at the general

"Divin ju" the girl says in a flat voice that didn't sound quite natural to Rex. The general frowns as she retreats back behind the clone. The captain tries moving to the side but she follows him like he's a moving shield. Rex sighs; he's starting to think that she might just be shy.

Skywalker's smirk slowly starts to come back as Rex sees an idea spread across his face. Wren sees it to and once again, peeks out from behind the captain. Skywalker waves his hand in front of her and the helm is lifted right off her head, revealing a confused and awed Wren as her red eyes follow the flying helmet's every move.

Wren has obviously never seen a Jedi use the force before. She watches his helmet lift into the air with that growing curiosity that can only belong to a child. She slowly follows the helmet on the ground, no longer caring if the Jedi can see her or not. The girl reaches for his helm only to see it lift a little higher into the air. Rex can just reach out and grab it if he wanted but Wren is too short to make a capture.

After a moment of confusion, Wren finally looks to the Jedi, realizing that he's the one that is somehow making the helmet magic, and then she looks up at Rex as if asking for an explanation. He looks down at her and shrugs like it's a first for him to.

She puts her focus back onto the helmet; witch has begum to descend to her eye level. It slowly drifts away from her when she gets close to it, like magnets with the same charge.

Wren stalks the helmet like a cautious predator after her food. Her red eyes almost glow when they touch the patches of sunlight that seep threw the trees. She moves closer and closer to her pretend pray, totally lost in her own little world.

Wren leaps without warning, her little arms outstretched to grab the helm. But she's only able to brush her fingertips off the side before it doubles in speed and races of. She sprints after the strange floating helm without hesitation.

Rex smirks at her sheer determination. He realizes that Tano had started helping her master at some point, combining her power with his and helping him move the helmet. They manipulate the helm to move in random zigzag patterns going up and down the road, ultimately forming one giant loop with Wren running behind it like a shadow.

The troopers watch her as she runs past, cheering her on and making bets on how long it will take her to catch it. Rex notices that the Locunians are completely ignoring her, something they have been doing since last night. They avert their eyes as she goes past.

The more loops Wren makes the more risks she takes in her jumps and her lunges for the target. The captain has no clue how their can be so much energy in one kid, it's like she doesn't have an end.

Wren is on her third loop when she gets her chance. Once again she runs down the road away from them, with that same joy she got out of being chased by Rex. Wren runs past the tank and the men around it cheer her on as she goes past. She's too far for Rex to properly see her threw the crowds when his helm is about to make its turn back. Wren anticipates the turn this and jumps up onto the small cart its circling around. She uses her momentum to leap off the cart and into the air, tackling his poor helmet to the ground.

Tano and her master both drop their hands and look at each other, satisfied with their work. From far away they can see Wren jumping up and down with both hands triumphantly waving his helmet in the air like it's a trophy. She looks so proud of herself. Rex lets a little smirk grow on his face before quickly suppressing it.

"That was fun and all, but I still need to get my helmet back" Rex mentions as he watches the kid put it back on. He takes his eyes off Wren to find both the Jedi looking at him.

"May the force be with you" Skywalker finally tells the captain, a knowing look spreading across his face. He smirks "You're going to need it."

"That's just great," the captain mumbles as he rubs the back of his bald and exposed head.

Just then, Rex realizes three things he should have picked up on a long time ago. The first thing is that all the sounds in Locuna's forest have stopped, leaving an eerie silence in its place. There's no chirping from high up in the trees or calls from animals that live deep within the forest anymore.

The second thing is that the little white creatures that have been playing all day have disappeared from the branches as well as the other creatures that Rex would have been able to see.

And the third thing is the fog; white grey mist as thick as smoke bleeds out of the forest and splashes onto the road. It's deep enough to cover the bottom half of his legs now. It's like the more Rex notices the faster everything changes. The trooper can't tell when it happened; but the cool shade had become cold at some point and the bright sunlight from all day has turned into a duel glow.

Others have picked up on these things as well and go quiet, including the Jedi. He makes eye contact with the general; they're both thinking the same thing. Something is defiantly wrong.

The fog gets thicker and deeper as the minuets go by, making it harder and harder to see. A dead silence has filly spread threw the people now, building the tension to a point where Rex has to remind himself to breath.

Someone (a female Locunian Rex can't see threw the mist) breaks the silence and screams. Rex tenses for half a second before running off with the Jedi to find its source.

The captain listens carefully as they push past the hesitant crowds in their way; as if on cue, the screams are followed by wiled and sharp laughing sounds. The sounds come from just within the forest in all directions. Rex recognizes it as the same laughing they heard in the forest yesterday and realizes that whatever's out there has been following them.

He and all his men go into battle mode, ready for anything. Rex catches a glimpse of the tank as he runs threw the fog. It disappears behind him as he realizes that he's running past Wren right now, but the fog is too thick to see her.

The screams and the laughing intensify, spreading fear to the confused Locunians; they start running in all directions. The running stirs up some fog and revels to Rex the course of everyone's fear.

The screams are coming from the old Locunian woman that helped translate for Fives and Echo last night. She squirms in between the jaws of a giant beast. The people back away from her and the creature, leaving a giant, empty space all around it.

The woman is going to die; Rex has seen enough death to realize when it's too late for someone. The creature's multiple black fangs have gone right threw her body. Locunian blood pours out of her and stains the animal's light grey, mated fur. It thrashes its giant horned head and bright blood splatters everywhere. The woman's screams cease as she hangs limply in its jaws like a broken doll.

The captain, the nearby troopers and the Jedi all surround the beast completely. Rex had already brawn his blasters without even thinking at some point. He takes a half second to welcome the familiarity of the blaster pistol's mettle in his hands. It's the reflex of a true soldier, if you see danger, you automatically draw weapons. Some men have the same instinct and already hold their blasters, other men don't have it yet and are fumbling for their firearms right now, but it's not long until the beast has about fifty blasters expertly aimed at its head. The Jedi stand by with their lightsabers lit, ready for action. No one dares to shoot it, fearing that would set it off.

The white beast looses interest in the dead Locunian and lets her fall out of its mouth, making a loud thud as she hits the ground. Its eyes fall on them with a scary mixture of curiosity, viciousness, and hunger, taking more interest in the clones showing hesitation, most of which are shinys. Rex realizes that it can smell the weak and afraid, that's how it picked the old woman out. It also watches the Jedi more carefully then the others, picking them out as the strongest. Everything it does screams predator, Rex realizes, and it's never good to corner a predator. Deep, laughing growls starts to emit from within the creatures throat, making the hairs at the back of the captain's neck stand up.

Everything after that happens to fast, like a blur. Rex is about to give the order to fire when to his horror, he hears more screams. He whips his head around towards its source. More creatures have been pouring out the forest from all over, attacking the panicked and almost completely defenceless crowds. Rex counts eight in the pack so far, dark creatures running in and out of the fist. They all look the same with their dark smoky grey fur, unlike the one they're surrounding, with its silver grey color that makes it blend into fog.

They tare threw the crowds, picking Locunians off one by one. The troopers do their best to hold the creatures off but are failing without the proper numbers. That's strategy, drawing all the forces to one side as the real attack comes to the other. Waiting for the fog to conceal themselves then attacking.

"These things are smart" Rex realizes out loud as he mentally kicks himself, the creature they surround looks at him with a satisfying glint in its eye, proud for being the diversion. The Jedi take most of the troopers and run off to help the people and deal with the creatures, leaving Rex with the few remaining clones that stayed behind to deal with the original. The captain hears more unnerving laughter and looks to the side of the road. He sees two creatures coming at them strait out of the forest to their right. Like shadows out of light they burst threw the fog, snarling and laughing.

The creatures blindside them before Rex can warn the other clones, they tare threw his troopers with black teeth, horns and claws, adding to the screams already in the air.

"Fall back and reform your lines" the captain yells over the kayos, trying to restore the order in his men. But just then, the creature they had surrounded takes the opportunity to pounce on an unsuspecting clone feet from where the captain stands. The trooper is soundlessly knocked back with the creature on top of him, its claws dig in as he screams and tries to get free. Rex starts blasting the animal, making black scorch marks on its already flawed wiled fur. But the beast doesn't fall, it doesn't even slow down.

The trooper is already dead; his screams died down long ago. The beast pulls its blood red claws out of the body and turns its attention onto Rex. It bares its black bloody teeth and snarls at him.

Blasting the beast might not have stopped it, but he did get its attention. It starts to creep towards Rex like how Wren stocked his helmet. The trooper is finding it hard to tell where the beast stops and the fog starts, its silver white fur blends into the fog to well to tell the deference. Its long tail flicks from side to side like a lightwipe, making the fog swirl around like smoke.

These creatures are beautiful, Rex wildly observes as it stares him down. Most of the animals on Locuna are beautiful, but not in the same sense, these creatures are beautiful in the same way a bottle of poison or a lightsaber where beautiful, because their all deadly.

He cautiously backs away. Running wont work and blasting it more will get him pounced on, he mentally kicks himself for getting its undivided attention. The beast goes into a crouch and Rex tenses up, ready for the strike. He has a small thought about how only minuets ago he was chasing after a little playful girl who snatched his helmet and now he's about to be eaten by a giant creature. But to his surprise, he isn't. Instead the beast jumps back as it gets hit by multiple blaster bolts from the side. It hisses at his men as they come out of the mist. They charge at the creature in formation, concentrating fire on its horned head. It lets out a mixture of angry growls and laughing as it retreats.

Rex starts to fugue it out. He imagines the blaster bolts being like little stinging bugs to the giant creatures, two of them are about the size of their tank after all. So one or two bolts are nothing to them, but if you have enough stinging bugs, then it's a problem.

The creature runs off into the crowds, evaporating into the mist and kayos when Rex and his men can't keep up with it.

The troopers all crowd around Rex; they make shore he's alright and wait for their orders. Rex moves past them and finally gets a good look around. They stand on a little hill at the rear end of the road, where all the carts and wagons finally end.

The places where he can see threw the mist all look like battle zones; bodies are littered all over the road. The troopers are all to scattered and separated to do any good, they fire at the dark creatures when they get a clear shot. The Jedi both have their hands full with their own beasts, it looks like the general already killed one, and the tank drivers are doing their best to fire at the creatures without hitting the people. Panicked Locunians run in all directions, some even being chased by creatures. Rex spots Fives, Echo, Hotshot and a few other clones all the way on the other side of the road. Their trying to coral the people further up the road, evacuating them to be safe and out of the way. But they're having trouble getting to everyone.

Rex turns to his men and quickly divides them into two groups, he points to the smaller group "help evacuate the people down the road, get them out of here." He turns to the other group as the first runs off "we're going to drive the creatures down the other way, hopefully we'll separate the people from the threat, lets go!"

Rex leads his men threw the panicked crowds as they run after group one, his plan is to start at the top of the road where he saw Fives and Echo and lead the charge down it so they catch all the creatures. His men obediently follow him, stopping for the occasional assist, shooting at creatures that chase after groups of people then gesturing for the groups to follow them. They try not to get sidetracked as they run threw the length of the battle zone. The mist is too thick to see everything, but Rex can hear the laughing as he runs past the creatures and he can see the familiar blue light of blaster fire in the mist, like lightning in the storm clouds. He only looses two men on the way.

Rex runs up to Fives and Echo when they finally reach the other end as his men get ready. They look surprised to see him. Or, he realizes, surprised to see that he still doesn't have his helmet.

"Tell the men to follow us behind the line, evacuate everyone who comes threw it. Work fast and get them out of the way." He orders, they both nod and run off to tell the other troopers. Rex jogs to his place at the head of the V pattern made up of clones, it spreads across the road with enough gaps to let the people threw. "Let's go lads!" the captain calls as he starts the blind charge threw the mist.

They quickly find their first beasts. They pounce out of the mist and onto the Locunians like they're play toys. Theirs more then Rex originally counted, maybe fifteen.

"Blast the heads!" a clone yells as all the men open fire. The creatures hiss at them and try to charge. Clones behind the line gesture for the Locunians to run to them. Screaming Locunians, men woman and children, flood past like a water fall. The clones grab the injured and help guide them to safety. Rex never breaks their pace, always moving forward.

The battles seem more intense without his helmet. The smell of blood is stronger, the sounds aren't slightly muffled like how they sometimes are in a helmet and Rex can feel the wind off his face as the people run past him. Giving Rex an overall exposed sensation that he doesn't like.

Creatures keep charging only to be turned back by their fire. They start to get a snowball effect as more clones are saved and join in the charge. A few of them even have z-6 rotary blasters, adding to the line's power and letting them speed up their pace. More and more beasts try to attack them as they become more concentrated.

Rex spots Ahsoka and her master in a vicious battle with four of the creatures; it isn't really a battle, all they can do is dodge the creature's attacks. They're just starting to struggle when some of the troopers open fire on the beasts. The four beasts take their attention off the Jedi and lunge for the line. "Blast them!" Rex yells as he opens fire. The creatures growl at them and run off after being hit by a storm of blaster bolts and realizing that they kind of hurt.

The general nods to Rex as they both tack up a spot at the front. They finally reach the tank; it marks the half way point on the road. They shoot at the beasts that are attacking it until they run off. Dex looks happy to see them threw the cracked glass of the drivers pit. The back opens up when they get closer and ten to fifteen Locunians come running out. They make a break for the line. Dex and his men all abandon the tank and joins them.

It's at that point when all the creatures finally give up and retreat down the road, ignoring the last of the Locunians and clones as they run past, towards the line. Rex stops their charge when an injured clone limps out of the fog and towards the line. He's leading a scared group of Locunian woman. His arm is draped over ones shoulder as she helps him walk, his free hand is clutching a shaky blaster rifle. All of them have looks of horror on their faces, they've seen things. They run threw the line and nearly collapse. Troopers catch all of them before they fall. The injured trooper pushes the medics away and finds Rex's eyes.

He lost his helmet at some point; blood drips down his forehead and goes into his eyes. "This is the last of them." He gasps, "Theirs no one left." Rex respectfully nods to the soldier as they carry him away. The captain looks ahead into the fog. He can see creatures threw the mist like black shadows. Lingering on the road, and waiting for a chance to attack.

"We're too exposed here" the general says as he looks into the forest. A clone scout hears him and steps forward.

"Sir" he salutes, "the fog only covers this part of the road" he gestures back the way they came. "It ends just past the wagons." Skywalker nods.

"Start moving the people out," he tells the clones that stand behind the line. They nod and get to work, helping the injured to their feet and guiding them down the road. The general looking over at Rex and his line of men, "we'll cover the retreat" Rex says before turning his attention onto the line.

"We, are, leaving! Keep your eyes ahead and do not break the line! Stop everything that comes threw that fog! No one else is dieing today! Let's go!" he yells. The line titeans up as they start moving back.

The dark beasts follow them. They stay fare enough away to be hidden in the mist, but the captain knows their there. They don't try to attack, Rex would prefer if they did because the tension makes the men nerves, and they had the man power to fend them off now anyways.

The mist becomes thinner and thinner as they get near the end. The beasts stop following them and hang back with clear frustration; they don't want to leave the mist, it's their best weapon.

Rex only relaxes when they finally exit the fog and he sees Locuna's shining sun again. The captain and his men all start to breathe again and relax the line now that the danger has past. The men start to laugh about it to try and shake the chock off. Rex looks up and shields his eyes from the bright light, enjoying the warmth.

"Now I just need to get my helmet back" Rex mumbles as he realizes that he's back to square one, again.

* * *

**ok that took a wile, didn't expect school to get so hard.**

**don't worry awesome fan(s) i will try to pick up the pase, but i cant promise anything**

**Also if you want more Wren then I have some stuff on my pinterest (find on my profile) that you might like, including a picture of a voola, and a picture I found that kind of looks like the creatures in the mist, sort of anyways, its not much right now but it will grow, o yes, it will grow *evil laugh***

**If you saw a mistake feel free to tell me, I'm dyslexic so spellchecking can go right over my head.**

**Oh yea! And I wanted to mention that the creatures in the mist sound like a mix between hyenas and lions, and something that hisses (your guess is as good as min)**

**And do we have any artists in the house? Feel free to draw; I kind of want to see if anyone can draw Wren, or Rex and Wren together. If you need my permission then you have it, but only if I can see it when you're done**

**Ok that's it, its 12:30AM right now and I have school tomorrow, I'm screwed but at lease I got this chapter out. Did I mention that I have to get up at 6:30?**


	7. Chapter 7

Rex stands watch over the edge of the fog along with the few other troopers that don't have any jobs to do. He doesn't think the creatures will come out but he stands there anyway. Most of his men moved back to help with the injured and to protect the people in case of another attack. The Jedi went to talk with the leader as per his request, or demand.

The fog looks like a giant dome from the outside. It doesn't seem natural to the captain; it just stops, as if there's a giant dome-shaped particle shield keeping everything bottled up.

The outside world is completely unaffected by the dome; the little animals still play in the trees and Rex can hear the buzzing sounds of Locuna's wildlife again.

But the creatures still have full run over everything inside the mist, including everything they left behind. Rex can still spot some of them through the mist. They trot around the abandoned wagons, looking for people who didn't get to safety. The captain can hear carts getting flipped over as they rummage. And a shiver goes down his back when he starts hearing the wet crunchy sounds of bodies being eaten.

Fives walks up and stands next to Rex. They both watch the mist like it's a giant fortress.

"What are they?" Fives asks as he folds his arms and watches a black shadow pass by in the fog. The captain absently shakes his head.

"No clue," he mumbles, more to himself then to Fives. "Whatever they are, I don't think they're done with us." He looks at Fives when he makes his mind up, "we need to get moving before they attack again."

Fives shakes his head. "The leader made it clear that his people won't leave without their belongings," he explains, clearly annoyed by the leader's personality. "The general ordered us to stand by until the creatures leave."

The captain slowly shakes his head. "That might be too late" he tells the clone. Fives nods in agreement.

"That's what we told the leader, but we can't just make the people move on." Fives removes his helmet and looks over at the captain; a small smile appears on his face. "Think about it this way. You can use the extra time to try to get your helmet back from the little imp."

Rex lets out a small, dry chuckle, but it quickly dies in his lips as his stomach starts to slowly turn to ice. He tares his eyes off the dome and turns around to scan the crowd of survivors. Then he scans the area again, to make sure he's right and because he doesn't want to believe that he's right. He doesn't want to believe that someone is missing.

Rex swallows, his mouth has suddenly become dry. He turns back around to look out over the ghost town of mist and wagons.

"Where's Wren?" the captain calmly asks, keeping his eyes fixed ahead and praying that he's wrong.

Fives freezes. He wipes his head to the side and looks at Rex with wide eyes, checking to see if the captain was serious. "I thought you knew," he finally says.

That was the tipping point for Rex. It was the moment in his head where he goes from worry and hope and dives right into the panic and worse case scenario calculations.

"Blast!" Rex exclaims as he leans over and snatches a pair of microbinoculars from an unsuspecting clone's hand. He uses them to look deeper into the thick sea of mist.

Fives runs back into the crowds and starts searching for her; something the captain doesn't have high hopes for. If Wren was alright then she would have let him know, right?

Rex realizes this has been at the back of his head for a while now. The secret fear that a beast got her when he was busy.

The captain zooms in with the binoculars and plays with the settings until he finds one that best penetrates the thick fog. He sees the black grey beasts, scattered all over the road like guards patrolling their base. Some are going back into the forest now that the fun is over. They drag the deceased in with them. People whose faces will never be seen again after they disappear behind the trees. Rex finds it hard to look away from the blank faces. Rex gets the sense that the dead are watching him. Wren isn't one of them. Rex finally forces himself to look away from the faces and zooms deeper into the fog.

Fives comes back with Hotshot following close behind him. They stop behind Rex and take a second to catch their breath.

"She's not here," Fives tells the captain. Rex's stomach feels like it just got tight. He doesn't look back at the two clones and keeps his eyes on the road ahead.

"Check again" he tells them. Fives and Hotshot both exchange quick looks with each other before looking back as their captain.

"Sir," Fives starts, "she's not here. We couldn't have missed her." Rex doesn't respond for a long time.

"I don't see a body," the captain finally says, his last excuse to believe that Wren is still ok, but he knows it's not a good enough excuse.

Rex is about to put the binoculars down when he catches a small flash of light, so fast that he had doubts it was real until it happened again, and again. The captain wouldn't have been able to see them without the binoculars. He zooms in on its site. The flashes are coming from just above the tank's shadowy outline; the microbinoculars won't zoom in enough for him to tell much else. But he can tell that the flashes aren't normal, their signals.

"Someone's still in there," the captain says as he hands the binoculars over to Fives. He takes them and looks through them. "On the tank, you see that?" Rex directs. The change in his face tells Rex when he spots the flashes. He finally nods and passes the binoculars over to Hotshot.

"Orders sir" Fives asks. Rex thinks. The beasts are just starting to leave. If he and his men go back in then the creatures will all come back. They should wait for the beasts to leave but if they can smell fear like he believes then they might find the survivor and it will be too late.

"Get the general," Rex finally orders. Fives nods and runs off.

"Um, sir? You should see this" Hotshot gives the microbinoculars back to Rex. He looks through them again and finds the tank. The flashes get faster and sloppy, showing panic. They quickly die in the mist, no more signals.

"Blast!" Rex shoves the binoculars into the unsuspecting Hotshot's hands and starts searching for his helmet before realizing that he still doesn't have it. He forgets about his bucket and reaches into a pouch on his belt, pulling out his last droid popper and tossing it to Hotshot as well, the trooper catches it with extreme confusion on his face.

"Sir?" he starts.

"Watch my back and keep radio silence at all times. Throw this in if I give the signal." Rex tells the hesitant trooper, shaking off the feeling that these might be the last orders he will ever give. Hotshot looks from the binoculars, to the droid popper then to the captain.

"Sir?" he says in a voice of growing comprehension, "what are you-." Too late, Rex had timed the creature's movements and picks that exact time to charge into the mist. He hears Hotshot's shouts as the cold mist envelops him completely, like jumping into a freezing pool of water.

The other clone doesn't follow him. Looking back; Rex can see the faint shadow that marks where the trooper still stands in shock. The outside sounds quickly become muffled as Rex travels deeper into the fog. It brings back that unnerving silence that he didn't miss.

Rex sticks to the side of the road, occasionally ducking behind a cart when a creature walks by him. They're too distracted with their food to properly smell the clone captain. The captain hopes it stays that way. He makes his way further down the road as if it were an enemy camp, because that's what it feels like to him.

The mist works in his favor now that the chaos and screaming was all gone. His near white armor helps him blend in the fog better than the grey black creatures ever could. He has avoiding them down to a fine pattern now that the advantage it his. See flash of shadow, duck behind wagon, wait for it to pass then keep moving.

Rex feels the tension build as he gets closer to the tank. One slip up and he's dead. No second chances, no one to fall back on if he fails, only himself. There have been troopers who cracked under presser like this; but Rex will not be one of them.

The clone captain counts his steps and guesses that he should see the tank's shadow any second now. He shifts a hand closer to the blaster on his right side. Not that his heavy blaster pistols could actually do anything if the time comes but the move gives him a false security that keeps him moving.

The silence gets destroyed by an ear-splitting howl coming from just ahead. Rex slides under a cart as five creatures run past him and towards the tank, adding to the howls and laughter.

They found something, Rex realizes. He gets back up and follows the herd of creatures. They come up to the tank but there's no one on it. Rex only has time to silently swear before he has to duck behind the closest cover, an overturned cart. Its baskets were knocked over, spilling red herbs all over the ground. Rex kneels down in the strange herbs. The strong spicy air burns his nostrils and forces him to breath with his mouth. Rex figures the spicy sent masks his own because they should have caught him by now.

The beasts are frantically searching the area around the tank. They smell the ground. Rex figures they're trying to get a trail. They push over carts and look under them. Some of the carts are to close to him for comfort. It seems to Rex like they're all there. The whole pack is circling the tank now. Except for the white grey one, (Rex realizes with a bad feeling growing in his stomach) the only one that he managed to personally tick off is off his radar. "That's just great." He mutters.

The captain looks back the way he came and raises his arm in a fist, knowing Hotshot is watching him through the microbinoculars. Two seconds later a loud bang echoes down the road. Rex can see the dime glow of the droid popper.

The creatures hear it and look past him towards the disturbance, their ears at point. They waste no time and run off towards his distraction. Rex holds his breath and huddles closer to the cover as the creatures' race past his herb cart on both sides. He feels his heart thumping so loud that he fears they will hear it. If one looks back he'll be spotted and everything will be over. Rex starts breathing again when the last one disappears in the mist, leaving the clone captain completely alone with the tank.

He stumbles to his feet and runs for the tank. It's obviously been attacked since the last time he saw it. Thick jagged claw marks run down the tank's sides, cutting right through the metal like it was paper. It looks like the beasts were climbing it, like they were trying to claw at whoever took refuge at the top. Maybe they succeeded, Rex wonders with a grim look on his face. He was so close.

He walks around the tank, keeping an eye out for creatures and for clues.

It doesn't take him long. The captain finds blood, bright Locunian blood on one of the walker's back legs. It looked like a lot of blood until he realizes that it's just smeared down the side. As if someone climbed down the leg and got blood everywhere. Rex can make out small red hand-prints at the top. Wren's size, he realizes. The blood stops at the bottom and doesn't make a trail.

The captain looks around and realizes the fog has gotten thinner. He can now see a whole two carts away. He scans the immediate area and freezes. An animal skin bag lies forgotten on the ground just within his range of view. He jogs over kneels down to examine it. All doubt that Wren was the survivor vanishes when he recognizes that it's Wren's bag.

Rex can imagine it. The strap has been stained with blood from where she grabbed it after climbing down from the tank. The whole bag seems flattened, as if a beast stepped on it. Rex notices something sharp and covered in blood is sticking out from the side. Whatever it is must have cut the beast's paw because the ground ahead of him had been covered with giant paw shaped blood marks. They lead further down the road and disappear into the mist. Rex sees it as his only real lead and decides to follow the blood trail into the unknown territory that is past the tank. Rex leaves the bag on a wagon so he can find it again and keeps walking.

It's at that moment that Rex realizes he's completely alone now. Even with the microbinoculars, Hotshot can't see this far into the fog. Not that he could have done anything when he could see the captain. Rex just feels more isolated.

The carts are destroyed, not just knocked over, but smashed to pieces. Ripped to shreds by all the beasts that got pushed into this area by the line.

Rex doesn't see any creatures as he marches down the road. It allows him to move faster without being caught. But he feels his luck running out as he goes even deeper. He should have seen something by now. The diversion shouldn't last this long. He preferred it when he could at lease have a sense of where the beasts were. This full on emptiness is just unnerving.

The paw marks disappear as the blood becomes old. Rex stays his course. He doesn't need the trail to know this is the right way. It is a road after all. A road Rex has had to run up and down all day now.

The fog gets thick again, even thicker then before. Just when Rex was starting to think it was going away for good. It's like all the surrounding mist got sucked into this area. It isn't natural and he doesn't like it.

In the end Rex is only able to see a few feet into the mist. He decides right there and then that he hates fog and will be happy for the rest of his life if he never sees it again.

All his instincts are working overtime. They cream at him to turn back. Never has he had to really go against his instincts. It feels wrong to deny them. But Rex won't go back until he finds the survivor, or the body.

Rex spots something through a thin pocket of mist and stops. He sees a blur, as if through a frosted window. It's too small for a creature and not the right shape for a cart. He walks forward; into the sliver of thin mist, which starts opening up and becomes yet another giant patch of thin mist.

The bluer starts to take on more of a shape as he gets closer. It gains the form of a little girl with white, mist like hair poking out the bottom of a clone helmet. Wren stands in the clearing like a ghost of the fog. She's still wearing his helm, as if she completely forgot about it. She doesn't know Rex is there and stands completely still with her back turned to him and looks off into the distance. Rex can't tell what Wren's looking at but to him, it seems like she's staring off into nothingness. She's too far away for Rex to tell if she's alright, he can barely see her. "Wren" he half yells as he comes closer. He flinches at how loud that sounded. She doesn't turn around.

Rex speeds up but has to stop when he comes to something strange. Something he can only explain as a cart wall. The wall stands four carts tall, two carts thick, and blocks the whole road. He can't walk around it because of the giant rocks at the sides of the road. He can't figure out how this happened. It's like the creatures had stacked the carts up themselves. The only way through is the giant V shape of empty space it makes in the middle. Like a canyon. He can see Wren through the small crack that starts the V at the bottom. The beasts could probably just jump through the top of the V where it opens up some more but Rex can't get up there. He eyes the tinny crack. He could squeeze through or start climbing over carts. Then let every creature around know where he is. He decides on the sneaky approach and starts wiggling his way through the small space.

Rex looks at Wren from time to time, making sure she's still there. The space gets tighter and he quickly gets stuck. Not good. He starts gently pushing the wagon he's stuck against, knowing full well it could easily fall on him if he messes up. Rex puts more strength in his effort and it starts to work. The gap starts opening up. He's almost able to squeeze through when he feels something snap. He takes his hands away from the wagon and watches as it starts swaying. Instead of falling the other way it looms over the trapped captain. It threatens to fall on him and pin him against the wagons. Rex does his best to push the cart away, frantically fighting to keep it up. But the wagon is too heavy for him to control. In the end it falls on him. Roughly throwing the clone against the wagon behind him and pinning him there. It would have probably killed him if he wasn't wearing his armour. He flinches from the noise and looks around for anything that might have heard the crash. He doesn't hear anything or see anything. But he still has a bad feeling. Rex tries pushing the wagon again to no avail, its way to heavy for him to move. "That's just great" he mumbles to himself. _What a fantastic rescue mission this turned out to be_, he thinks to himself, _Wren is right there but now you can't move_.

He looks back at Wren to make sure she's still there and freezes. It's the white one. How did he not see it? It walks forward, practically materializing out of the cloak of mist. It's already seen Wren and is slowly heading for her. She watches it come. The beast looks at Wren like she's a new chew toy.

Two more come out of the mist as well. Two heavily scared black grey beasts on ether side of the white one, their pack leader. These two snarl and laugh as if they couldn't control their madness. But the white one stays calm.

The girl's bare feet make patting sounds as she starts to slowly and carefully back up. She doesn't take her eyes off the beasts but manages to navigate through the fields of dead clones and Locunians without actually seeing them. Her little hands shake. Rex does the calculations. She's fast, but not that fast. If she runs she's dead. If he shoots they will pounce on her.

Rex puts his energy into shoving the wagon off him. But it still doesn't seem to move. Rex doesn't make a sound as he works. He wills the girl to keep backing up, and he curses the beasts. He alternates between trying to squeeze through the crack and trying to push the wagons apart. He never takes his eyes off Wren for a second.

The beasts get restless. They keep looking at their leader, waiting for him to make the first move. The whole time Wren is backing up. All the playfulness from earlier has left her, all that remains is a scared little girl wearing a clone helmet.

Rex is almost free but that doesn't matter. Because almost, is too long. The white beast starts making its move. It starts its uncontrollable laughing. Even more wild then the other two's. It makes Rex shiver. How it can change from that level of calm to the level of uncontrollable viciousness. The other two get rallied up by their pack leader. Not good.

Rex starts punching the wagon even harder. He putts all his strength and helplessness into the wood. Wren's hands shake even more, she doesn't even realize. Her feet start tripping over themselves.

She stumbles and the sudden movement sets them off like a thermal detonator. The white beast launches into a full on charge. The other two follow right behind. Wren watches them come like a little shaking statue. She doesn't run.

"Blast it! Wren!" Rex yells, throwing himself against the wagon. It shakes a little but holds.

"Get away!" Rex hears someone yell. Suddenly, one of the bodies starts to move. It's a clone. He lies at the side of the road halfway between Wren and the advancing beasts. The trooper quickly stumbles to his feet and limps to intercept their charge.

His helmet has cracks and is caked in blood. He holds his bleeding arm where the elbow down is missing. It's amazing that he's still alive.

"Pick on me you pathetic creatures!" he spits as he takes his helmet off and throws it away. Revealing the trooper's righteous face masked in blood, pain, acceptance, and the pure courage of a last stand.

He gets in the line of their charge. "Come on ya stupid mutts! I'm right here!" his horse voice echoes through the road, louder than anything else. The creatures waste no time in taking him down. The white one runs up to him and champs down on his shoulder with a loud crunching sound. The clone cries out. The beast to the right bits down on his legs with another crunch. they both lift he struggling clone into the air.

The creatures laugh and growl through their full mouths. He thrashes for freedom, fighting till the end. "Run," he breathes. That's all he could say before they start the most gruesome game of tug-o-war Rex has ever seen.

The two beasts start pulling their ends. Screams fill the air for the second time that day. this time, cracking and popping sounds follow the screams as his body starts coming apart from the inside. More blood splashes onto the road as they pull harder.

The worse part is that Wren is watching. The creature's attentions are off of her now but she still doesn't move. She watches the clone in frozen horror as he screams over the beast's laughter. Her shaky legs are barely keeping her upright.

Rex is almost through. He's resorted to body checking the wagon, jamming his shoulder into the wood over and over. Each time it shakes free a little more. His heart is beating faster than it has in a long time. He grunts at the wagon in frustration.

"Wren! Snap out of it and run!" the captain yells. She doesn't turn around. More blood pours out from the clone. His screams start to die but they never truly stop. The clone goes quiet and looks right at Wren. He's nearly gone now, but his eyes tell the girl to run.

Wren doesn't need to see this. Rex slams against the wagon one more time and it finally gives. Rex feels the pressure come off him as the wagon starts swaying again. He takes his chance and dives out through the opened gap seconds before the gap crashes shut again. Rex briefly tags the ground and stumbles into a full on run. He hears a loud crash behind him but doesn't look back to see what it was. He sprints forward and hopes he can get to Wren before the beasts get bored.

Rex hears a new set of cracking sounds and looks back to the brave clone. He's barely alive now. He makes sounds occasionally but that's it. The beasts are putting everything they have into it now. They pull, twist, tug and thrash as hard as they can, laughing and snarling the whole time.

The white beast digs its claws into the ground and gives one last yank with everything it has. The clone's body stretches longer then it was ever supposed to. He lets out one last scream that echoes through the road, so loud that the others probably heard it outside the mist. It's like everything the trooper had left was in that last, desperate cry because when it ends, he's gone. Blood starts pouring out from the cracks between his armour plaits and Rex feels sick.

Wren still hasn't budged. Rex doubles his already doubled speed. He feels his chest burn but doesn't care. He's almost there.

Rex expected the beasts to drop the dead clone and move on to Wren. But they don't stop when he's dead. They keep going. The body keeps stretching. Rex starts hearing wet ripping sounds now. He recognizes it as skin ripping and shivers. And it's at that moment when he comes apart.

As if in slow motion, the clone splits down the middle. He comes apart slowly and graphically. Splashing blood in all directions, some blood even sprays far enough to hit his helmet.

The trooper's limp legs and belly go to the black beast. Everything else, the arms, head, chess, and chess plat break off on the white beast's side. The troopers guts spill onto the ground. His spine is the last thing to separate. It stretches out like an evil, boney tail, connecting the two halves until it finally snaps off he lower half and goes to the white beast. It looks happy about it, as if the clone's spine was a wishbone that he won.

The beast with the legs takes his half and starts another war with the other one. The white beast looks back at Wren with the clone still in its jaws. The spine sways underneath like a cut rope.

Rex's face hardens at the sight. Wren shouldn't see this. The beast freezes and drops his half when he notices Rex. Who now stands behind Wren like a guardian angel. The road is quiet as they as they glare at each other. Without looking away, Rex reaches down and plucks his helmet off Wren's head. She doesn't protest, she doesn't even move. He places the helmet back over his head.

Rex already has a blaster drawn and points it at the white creature. Not that his blasters would be much help against the beast's thick skin but anything is better than nothing. The other two notice the situation and take their original places at ether side of their leader. Rex notices how they're back to the original stand-off, but this time they only stand thirty feet away.

Rex spares a quick glance down at Wren. She's not looking to good. Her arm is bleeding and turning her arm scarlet. She's shaking pretty bad and her face is paler than usual.

"Wren" Rex whispers. He's been trying to come up with a plan ever since he got free of the carts. Preferably a plan that involves getting out alive, but all he can come up with is Wren running and him shooting.

"Wren, you have to-". He freezes and looks back down at her. The girl is a statue. She doesn't even acknowledge him. He frowns. She's deep in shock. The captain has seen some bad cases of shock in his life. He's willing to bet Wren doesn't even know he's there.

Rex spots movement and looks up at the beasts. The white beast has begun its slow approach once again. The other two follow behind their leader. Rex starts backing up and pulls Wren along with him. She absently starts walking backwards with shaky feet. He wills her not to stumble.

The beasts get closer. These creatures like to savour their kills, Rex realizes. They never just charge right off the bat and kill. They like to approach slowly at first to toy with their prey. But Rex knows they are on the verge of charging.

Rex gets his first good look at the white beast when they're only twenty feet away and the mist doesn't hide them as much. He notices the eyes first. They aren't proportionate to the rest of the beast's size. The beast's eyes are so small that the mist would make it impossible to make them from any further. They're deep red, just like Wren's eyes. But they don't have her glee. What they are is cold and calculating with a spark of unpredictable madness. Ok, Wren might have some unpredictable in her but that's all. The beast's teeth are the next feature Rex finds himself looking at. Black as coal, like its horns, and covered in blood. As long as Wren's forearm and reversed to point inwards. Unlike the small eyes, they are very noticeable from far away.

Rex draws his other blaster and points both at the white beast. Wren's out of it so he'll be thinking for the both of them now. His mind races as he frantically tries to rake up a plan in his head. He goes through protocol, training, facts and instincts all at once.

Running is out because the beasts will charge. Theirs no place they can hide and if they try the beasts will charge. It seems that shooting is all he has right now but that wont work ether. Their skin is to strong, all that would do is peeve them off and make them charge. So how can he make his only real option, an option?

Rex blinks in realization. An idea/theory pops into his head. It's something he can only describe as Skywalker's influence rubbing off on him.

The captain puts a blaster into its harness and stops backing up. He puts the free hand on Wren's shoulder and guides her to back up behind him. He grasps the one blaster in two hands and takes refined aim position A. its a lot different from his preferred duo blaster style. It feels alien to him, but its best for practiced aiming. And that's what he really needs right now.

Time slows down for him again as he starts doing the math, bringing into account the wind, distance and the size of his target. He's not sure if this will work, but he knows it's their only option. If it doesn't work he'll push Wren on to run. The white beast gives him a suspicious look.

Rex is vaguely aware that Wren has started humming again. Only this time he recognizes the melody as the one he hummed last night.

The white beast glares at him and he glares right back through the notch in his blaster. He feels the tension as the beasts get closer. His aim needs to be perfect. And he has to do it soon because they're about to charge.

The clone captain prays to nothing in particular as he mentally goes through the last steps listed under near impossible shots. He breathes in, steadies his hand, breathes out, squeezes the trigger, and fires. Just like in target practice.

Rex feels recoil and watches as the bolt flies. It travels fast towards the white beast and sinks into its tiny right eye. The beast recoils and lets out a glass shattering roar of pain.

The mist reacts and goes wild as the beast's roars echo out, as if the mist could feel the creature's pain. It starts swirling around them like the eye of a storm and explodes outwards, disappearing into the forest and leaving the road completely clear. The other two don't charge. They look around in at their exposed cover then to their leader, inshore on what to do. They need permission from the leader to attack. But the beast it too caught up in the pain of its missing eye to give the go ahead.

Rex wastes no time. His scoops the distant Wren up with one arm and run back the way he came. She wraps her arms around his neck and looks back over his shoulder as he navigates through the cart maze.

He doesn't see any beasts ahead of him. But what he can see is the cart wall. The V is gone. It's been caved in by carts. He realizes that must have been the loud crash he heard before. The wall is coming up fast and he doesn't have time to squeeze through it this time.

"Not good" Rex mutters to himself as he reaches the base of the wall. He looks back to find the beast has just recovered. A thin trail of smoke comes off the burned eye.

The beast scans the road and spots him with its one good eye. A silent second goes by where Rex can practically see the rage boiling off the beast. It breaks into a charge without any warning. Tarring through carts and letting them fly as if they weighed nothing. Half blind with rage and, well, actually half blind. Rex has a good idea on how they got the carts stacked up now that he sees how easily the carts can fly.

Rex pries Wren off him and sets her down. It's like placing a statue on the ground. She's still frozen and that's still not good. Rex starts to feel the tension. He scans the wall and ends up looking at the top. Climbing this thing it the last thing he wants to do but it looks like their only option.

He kneels down to pick Wren up again but stops after spotting something. He sees a ray of light shining inside a hole in the wall. He didn't see it before because it's at Wren's level. It's completely invisible to him while standing up.

Rex turns Wren and guides her to the tunnel. He picks up a broken wood board along the way. The captain ushers Wren into the tunnel. It's perfect for the girl's height, all she has to do is duck a little. But Rex has to enter the tunnel on his hands and knees.

He takes one last look at the raging beast then uses the board to plug up the entrance. The wall is only about two carts thick so the tunnel isn't that long. All it does is curve slightly to the left. Rex ushers Wren to keep going down the tunnel and towards the light. They take the bend and find where the light is coning from.

Rex's eyes widen. The light leaks in through three thick wooden planks. They're also baring them from the outside. Rex wasn't expecting that and has to bit his tong to stop himself from swearing in front of the kid.

Rex grabs a plank and tries forcing it to come away. It doesn't even wiggle. Locuna wood is stronger than it looks.

The captain freezes when he hears the beast run up to the wall. He stops messing with the planks and goes quiet. Wren hears the beast and looks at him. Her eyes go wide and he swears he saw them glow red again.

Rex can hear patting noises as the beast paces up and down the length of the wall. It growls in confusion, probably wondering how the wall collapsed in on itself.

The captain quietly reaches for the same plank and starts trying to shake it loose. He looks back the way they came. He can see the beast's shadow through the spaces in the wood as it walks by.

Rex shifts himself up to a kneeling position. Thinking he can try to kick the planks out. But he misjudges the tunnel's height and smacks his bucket hard off the sealing. It makes a loud thud sound that echoes through the tunnel. Rex finches at the sound, too loud for his comfort.

Its dead quiet outside, which probably means the beast has stopped moving. Rex doesn't move, he doesn't even breathe. All the captain can hear is the fast beating of his own heart; he hopes he's the only one that can hear it. A few seconds go by and nothing happens. He has no idea where the beast is. Maybe it left.

Just when Rex thinks it's safe to move again the unexpected happens. The entrance he boarded up explodes inwards as the beast jams its giant head in through the hole. Splinters fly everywhere as the white beast wildly snaps its jaws at them and laughs. The beast thrashes its head and inches closer to them as it shakes the tunnel makes room for itself.

The whole wall shakes from its struggles. Rex knows that if the beast doesn't kill them, the cave in will. "Move in!" Rex yells as he pushes Wren closer to the bared exit and away from the giant death beast.

Rex forces his eyes off the beast and focuses on the planks. He draws a blaster and aims at the middle plank. He then rips his helmet off and throws it over Wren's head so she doesn't get hit with any fly backs. Rex squeezes the trigger and blasts the plank at point-blank range.

The charred wood shakes and sparks bounce off. His helmet protects Wren but he feels a burning sensation on his cheek. Rex wipes away the pain and uses his last two shots on the other two planks. This time he looks away to shield his face.

The captain looks back when he's done. Each plank is charred black in the middle with a little hole that shows where the bolt hit. He shuffles up to the planks, feet first.

The beast is making room for itself, it rips chunks of wood off the sides so it can get closer to them and makes the tunnel threaten to collapse. A few more inches and they're done.

Rex sits next to Wren and kicks the bottom plank hard. It easily snaps in two and he moves to the second one, breaking that one in three and finally hoofing the top plank as hard as he can. It flies off with a highly satisfying snapping sound.

The carts shake even harder now that the planks are gone, they must have provided a support for the tunnel.

Rex practically picks Wren up and throws her out. He feels hot breath on the back of his neck and scrambles to escape himself. Diving out just as he hears a loud chomping sound right behind him.

The clone captain goes through a spell of disorientation on the ground where it takes a moment to sink in that he's still got legs. He hears a frustrated growl that snaps him into reality.

Rex scrambles to his feet and glances back to find the beast's head jammed through the entrance and trying to get out. Luckily the hole is smaller on this side.

Rex can't help but smile down at the beast's struggling. Before, when he first saw the beast, it looked so majestic, beautiful in a wild and dangerous way. Now it's the opposite. Now the white beast has been consumed with rage. Its perfect white fur ruined by the blood from its eye and its face is in a permanent vicious snarl. All its dignity left the moment it tried to get through that small hole.

Rex lifts his helmet off of Wren's head and puts it on with a victorious smile he can't keep from showing.

But he swears the creature read his expression because it roars again and starts thrashing for freedom. Rex steps back in surprise as the beast starts to get free. It shakes the wall and starts creating a bigger hole to get through. The captain mentally kicks himself for being cocky. It'll be free soon.

Rex turns to Wren and is about to puck her up to run when he spots something familiar. A small basket filled with red leaves sits on an untouched cart not fare away.

Rex sprints to the cart, grabs the basket and runs back. Wren watches him with absent eyes. The beast growls at him on his return. It has a leg out already.

He runs up and slams the basket over the beast's snout. Spice goes all over the beast's face. The beast yelps in pain and tries to shake the basket off. The empty basket flies away and the beast starts frantically backtracking into the hole to get away. The spice makes his nose sting even with the helmet on.

It doesn't take long for the beast to go back through the tunnel. Its almost out the other side. He can still see it now that the tunnel is bigger and the curve is gone. His eyes water just by seeing the beast's good eye swells up. He can tell the spice isn't helping the wound on its right eye ether.

The beast gives him one last glare before leaving the tunnel. He's never seen so much hate in an animal's eye then in that beast. It probably can't even see him but it still gives him the silent message that this is not over. It makes Rex's stomach turn to ice for a moment. This is not over.

The beast pulls itself out and tunnel collapses, sealing the hole between them and the danger.

Rex realizes he's holding his breath and breathes out for the first time in what seems like forever. He turns and looks back at Wren. She looks up at him, silently asking what just happened. He takes his helmet off and smiles down at her. After a long moment of blank staring, Wren falls on her butt and sits there.

Rex's smile drops, he walks over and kneels down next to her. Her whole body is shaking, her breaths are uneven and he can hear her heart racing. Her nerves have been shot, she's covered in blood stains and her face is in a permanent blank expression. Her arm is still bleeding, not by a lot but he doesn't like that she's paler them usual. And her once loosely braided hair is now a tangled mess.

Rex isn't sour which was worse. Wren last nigh or Wren right now. She needs medical help. He puts his helmet back on and carefully picks her up with both hands. He supports her this time so she's more comfortable before starting the walk back to the others.

Rex's path is completely clear of beasts, mist and cart walls. The three things he now hates. he walks past all the damage the beasts did with a hard face. The captain sees the tank up ahead and looks around for the cart he stashed her animal skin bag on. He finds it right where he left it and picks it up as he walks by. Rex can see his men coming his way. They see him too and speed up.

Wren closes her eyes and rests her head on his shoulder. He looks down at her. He's worried that something's wrong and speeds up.

But most of his worry leaves when he notices that she's started humming again. He thinks it's some kind of nervous habit of she hers.

"Its ok." He mutters, more to himself then the shocked girl who he thinks is falling asleep in his arms.

The captain meats with his men and lets Kix take Wren from him immediately. The medic places her on a hover stretcher and starts checking her status.

Fives, Echo, the general and almost all the clones stand around the stretcher in dead silence. It doesn't take Kix long.

"Wren's pretty shaken up. But she's ok." He says, unable to hide the surprise in his voice.

The all clones breath out in relief and the general orders them to get back to work. Everyone leaves but Rex and Kix. The medic goes through his bag and pulls out a cloth, some water and a bacta patch. "She looks a lot worse than she actually is. Only one physical wound." Kix explains as he cleans the blood from the wound on her arm. She finches but doesn't fight. The blood comes away and Rex can make out three claw marks from where they tagged her. Kix sticks the patch over the marks and starts flashing a light over her eyes, which is difficult because she's falling asleep. He looks up at Rex. "But she's showing signs trauma. I can only imagine what you two saw in there, poor kid. I'll take Wren to the med station and keep an eye on her. Hopefully she can sleep the trauma off" The medic starts packing up.

Rex can understand why she's been traumatized. He's seen soldiers break down from less. At lease it wasn't shock like he thought, that would have been so much worse. Rex puts Wren's bag on the stretcher and nods to the medic as he takes her away to the makeshift camp.

The captain turns to inspect the area around him. There's broken carts in the way of everything, wounded that still need help and dead bodies everywhere. The Locunians are arguing, most of the troopers don't have orders and don't know where they're needed. There's a strong sense of confusion in the air and the Jedi are too occupied with the tank and the leader to help. Rex takes a beep breath and starts shouting orders.

* * *

**A little patchy but not my worst chapter right?**

**I've**** got 99 problems and this chapter ain't one (hehe). I owe this chapter to,**** three pots of coffee, **an _enlightening _all nighter, a bad headache I _will_ get tomorrow when I go through coffee withdrawal, and my readers. All three of you are awesome and I am so sorry for the delay. I feel really bad about it.

**If you like my fanfic then please tell your friends about it. Stick it on tumbler, tell your nerdy friends who like fanfics, Pass out fliers, go on the radio, make a commercial. Ok you don't have to go that far. Just spread the word a little. I'm looking to grow an army of fans because I want to be a real author some day, so I need to see if people actually like my writing. Plus i want to get more followers, what can I say, I have a low self-esteem. Any pity help is great. I know it's a little out-of-the-way but Santa is watching and he'll put you on the nice list if you help. So win win right?**

**And tell me if you think I should change the rating. because, you know, clones getting ripped apart and stuff. **

**Ok, that's it, I'm going to run laps around my house until the caffeine wares off.**


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